By Joshua Boyle, IC
Last week we announced we had made an official partnership with Verlag Kopf, a Slovak based e-shop, which creates high quality reproductions of German and American pocket items, instruction booklets and medical items. Our members enjoy a 5% discount in Verlag (one of the many benefits of joining our reenactment group).
To test out the items, I made a small order for a project our group is working on. Here is our review of the items.
The first item was a box of Zündholzfabrik matches. The box is made out of two pieces, the outer and the inner tray. Both pieces are made out of thin balsa wood wrapped in purple paper, giving the boxes a much more sturdy construction than modern match boxes. The outer box also has two strike faces as well as a high quality sticker printed on matte off white paper. The matches inside strike much better than modern matches and have a distinctive sulphur smell (whether that is just down to the matches being Slovak rather than British or being an actual wartime difference is unknown).
Leziak Beer Labels
The second item is two Slovak beers labels, one for the Leziak Beer, whilst the other is from Leziak-Granat beer. Both labels are printed on matte off white paper.
Paulanerbræu Beer Label
The final item I ordered was a Paulanerbræu beer label. This label is different to the Leziak Beer labels as it is actually a sticker. The sticker itself is adhesive and is printed on matte off white paper, and backed with plastic.
Free item; American folding can opener
Although not entirely accurate for a Romanian impression, these American folding tin openers are very useful as a backup to open ration tins, incase you’re without a tin opener or bayonet. It comes in a brown paper packet with some quality black printing on .
Overall, I have been impressed with the quality and craftsmanship of Verlag Kopf’s work. I would definitely recommend to anyone who does German and Romanian reenactment to check out their range of items. Although not as extensive, their American range is also excellent.
39th Infantry Regiment Living History Group 