Why do you like Imperial?

[VtwinVince]

Coming from an old Junker-Geschlecht, which included Georg von Heimburg and Christoph-Adolf von Rauchhaupt, it's only natural to be interested in this stuff

[Daniel Murphy]

I got into imperial items as a result of the study of WW1 itself. It was the most technically advanced war to that date. Machine guns, aeroplanes, modern artillery, but all of this technology, did not prevent war or shorten it. It just made the common soldier suffer more than in any previous war. At the front lines the soldiers ate, slept, and lived among the bodies of the dead and the filth. In previous wars at least there was a chance to recover the wounded and the dead. In WW1 this was very often impossible. One only has to visit and look at the memorials to the missing. 55,000+ at Ypres, 20,000+ at Passchendaele, 60, 000+ on the Somme. And this for the British and Commonwealth forces. Not by any means the largest army in the war. The same goes for the French at Verdun, One visit to the French Cemetery and monument near Fluery and you see the same thing. Under the floor are the remains of vast tens of thousands of unknowns, who are still being found to this day. Their remains are visible to those who look through the windows as you enter. All wars are horrible but this was worse than most. So I decided to remember those who fought by collecting and preserving the uniforms, field gear, headwear, medals and orders, personal items, documents etc. Almost all are gone now and this (plus a few memories) is all that remains to show that some of them ever existed. There are many collecting U.S. items and I have always had an interest in German items, so therefore I chose to remember the other side. They were no less brave. I read somewhere that a soldier who diminishes his enemies fighting ability, diminishes his own acomplishments when victorious. Of course, the beauty, quality and variety of the items is one reason why I still collect Imperial German, it is not the only reason.

Dan Murphy

[Mike Dwyer]

For some twisted reason, I have always had a fascination with monarchies, knights, and the idea of virtuous service. As a older child, and then teenager, I loved Napoleonic uniforms, but as I got older and more "mature" I developed a love for the clean, crisp, lines of the German uniforms from about the 1880's to 1914. I have to admit I even like some of the field gray stuff too! As far as the orders and medals, they're just too superb for words!!!