Histaria

Mario, To respond to your original question, this is likely incomplete. Typically there would be at least a pasteboard cover to keep the item from getting beat up. The Ehrhardt group was "theoretically dissolved" in May 1920 as Robert G. L. Waite put it. Their support of the Kapp putsch and subsequent excesses in the suppression of the Berlin Communists made them an unstable and hostile companion for the government. Ehrhardt and a cadre of officers high tailed it to Bavaria where they hid out and formed Organization Consul and the death squads of the Feme. The fellow in this document looks to have headed to another unit, as he's sporting the insignia of the Garde-Kavallerie-Schutzen-Division. One other subtle clue is suggestive: the rubber stamps employ an eagle with a crown. It was very common for freebooter units to continue to use stamps left over from the recently ended war. However, the postwar government was intent on distancing itself from the former monarchy and worker hard to erase any heraldic use of the old red-white-black colors and the Kaiser''s crown. So this looks less likely to be a Reichsmarine item. Again, not absolute but suggestive. The Ehrhardt badge was for ten months service.

A good place to keep an eye on is the Institute of Heraldry web site. They design the insignia and over the last couple of years have been posting color drawings of the latest SSI and D.U. I. that have been authorized. My link

The reference was to the award of the Submarine Combat Patrol Badge. Making modern subs eligible because of a missile launch remains controversial, the argument being that "shoots" against Iraq did not involve a risk comparable to making an attack against an enemy target in W.W.II.

German 3-D publications were a popular genre and they covered a variety of subjects, including sculpture, cities, expositions . . . you name it. As might be expected, the ones on political and military topics have always been popular with collectors. The books used to be fairly common, but apparently are the kind of thing that people tend to hang on to, so they seem to be a bit scarcer these days.

This style was authorized from 1922 through 1934, so technically it is Weimar and early Third Reich. Second Class is correct, with the First Class being worn on a neck ribbon. The Second Class is also found with a plain suspension ring and it has been suggested that those with the ball suspension were of later issue. Also, this award can be found in gilded silver or gilded bronze.

It is almost certainly not a freikorps item and there's a good chance it is not German. I'd place my bets on it being from a fraternal organization.

I seem to recall that this, or a badge in the shape of just the black segment, appeared in the Oberlandbund anniversary book back in the 1970s, but I can't seem to find my copy right now. So I believe that this, or a somewhat similar design, existed. Unfortunately, there's nothing about this particular example to suggest that it is of freikorps-era manufacture, so it might be one of those fantasy pieces being cobbled together from old and new designs.

A great group and pretty comprehensive! Can we presume that the U.S. medals are included because they are Vietnamese made? The U.S. RVN Campaign looks like it may be one of the aluminum, uniface versions.

U.S. Army railway units are generally part of the Engineer Corps. The unit you seek is probably Light Rail Operators, 21st Engineer Regiment. Have a look here: My link

This version of the U.S. Army officer's armor branch emblem was authorized in February 1942.

This version of the U.S. Army armor branch emblem was authorized in February 1951. The tank was modeled on the M-26 Pershing.

The G23 Army contractor code is for the Ira Greene Company of New York City. The insignia could have been made any time from the mid-1960s onward. Greene currently offers only 1, 2, and 4 star versions for sale at $16.35 each, just to give a little context to availability and cost when there's no provenance involved.

You won't find detailed qualifications for the Observer wing, as General Order 38 (1918) basically said that if you "graduated from an authorized school for aerial observers" (airplane or balloon) you could wear the wing. Airplane observers had to also pass a "prescribed test in aerial gunnery" but the balloon observer did not. So, whatever was in the course material was the qualifying criteria for the "flying anal opening," as the insignia was dubbed soon after its creation. By the way, the school for balloon observers was at Fort Omaha.