German Customs Administration Officials Sleeve Shield

German Customs Administration Officials Sleeve Shield
Customs Administration officials sleeve shield (Ärmelschild). In 1936 the Customs Service was reorganized and given further policing responsibilities including the apprehension of individuals attempting to escape from the NSDAP yoke. The German Customs service was divided into two separate branches with one branch consisting of the Landzollbeamte, (Land Customs Officials), which was subdivided into the Zollgrenzschutz, (Land Customs Border Guards), and the Wasserzollbeamte, (Water Customs Officials), and the second branch consisting of the remaining Zollbeamte, (Customs Officials). On June 17th 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany including the Customs service. It is believed that this shield was introduced with other new uniform and insignia regulations that were instituted, on June 25th 1936 to be worn on the upper left sleeve of the service uniform by customs administration officials when performing their duties.A vertically oval, die struck, alloy construction sleeve shield. The shield features an embossed, political style national eagle with out-stretched wings clutching a wreathed, canted, swastika in it’s talons and embossed Gothic script, "Reichszollverwaltung" (National Customs Administration), all on a subtly pebbled background field. The bottom edge of the shield has a small, embossed, smooth field, plate with a blackened, stamped serial number, "8482". The shield also has dual, raised, outer border lines and two holes to both sides and the top and bottom edges intended to attach it to a sleeve.
Condition: Good condition with traces of hard wear. As the pictures shown.