Gordon Williamson

Just arrived with assistance from Stogieman. Just about the best condition one of these I have ever encountered. Made by Maedicke, a well known maker of military accoutrements.

From the sublime to the ridiculous for the UK. Lovely EVIIR and the current staybrite monstrosity for the MPGS

Two from India

Rhodesia with Bird ( still need Rhodesia with Crown) RhMP title

Did quite well on South Africa. South Africa Mounted Rifles ( They provided the first MPs, followed by South Africa Field Artillery so if anyone know of one of these for sale please let me know) ) Nice stamped version with Scales ( my other one is cast ) Swords type in Brass with Collar Dogs SACMP / SAMPK shoulder Title

Not much from Australian- NZ Australian MP, and New Zealand curved NZMP. Discovered that these started life as NZMR (New Zealand Mounted Rifles) and had the tail of the R removed when supplies of the NZMP were proving difficult.

Some recent additions. Canada Current Cap Badge QC Provost Cap Badge WW1 Canadian Military Police title Ibelieve this is the actual Canadian m,ade type, thinner letters than the British CMP) C-Pro-C title

Cap badges are more confusing. The EIIR cap badge is unmistakable as it has the "Military Provost Staff Corps" scroll, but earlier ones don't. What you get for GVR however depends on which reference you look at. K&K show the one with the wreath. Others show the one I've attached here, which is basically similar to the GVIR type. Gaylor describes it as the Royal Cypher, surmnounted by the Crown, in Brass, no mention of a wreath. The GVR version is also very similar to the Norfolk Yeomanry badge, but smaller. Perhaps it was changed because of confusion ?

Here is the QVC Helmet Plate for MPSC

Looks like an original piece, and probably a wartime period repair. Period repairs are often crdue in the extreme. They didn't have to be pretty, being on the reverse where no one would see, they just had to do the job.

Very interesting Richard. Although the pin on mine is soldered to a barrel, yours is the simple "wrap around" type which is far more typical of Deumer.

I'm not a major fan of identifying unmarked badges by the fittings used, so consider this one as by an unkown maker. However, given the fittings used, would think that Deumer could be in the frame. Nice early Tombak piece whoever made it !

Morten, Sorry, this one is 100% fake. Wrong pin/hinge, wrong clip, badly formed swastika. Lots of things wrong with it.

I'd agree, either Wächtler & Lange or Klein & Quenzer. Both used a virtually identical design for their badges - the only makers that Michel's badge matches.

Sorry Morten, but I would have to say that in my opinion all of these are fake. For sure both the Imperial and Kriegsmarine U-Boats badges are 100% bad, same for the S-Boot and the summer metal breast eagle. The Auxiliary Cruiser has identical fittings to the bad U-Boat with that rather thick needle pin and the Fleet Badge seems to have the wrong style of fittings also.

Very nice "textbook" examples.

Tom, The aircraft in the film clip is a Focke-Wulf Fw200 "Condor", exactly the type the guy in this document set served on. The aircraft in the clip is actually from his unit, KG40 with the distinctive ringed globe emblem below the cockpit and at one point you can just make out his squadron code F8 ahead of the cross on the fuselage. Who know, he may be one of the gunners you see in the clip !

Apart from the two U-Boat bunkers (Elbe II and Fink II) , Hamburg was more important as a ship building centre than as a naval base, (with major manufacturers such as Blohm & Voss, Howaldtswerke etc). Ships would have been in and out for repir throughout the war as well as new ships being built. Even the U-Boat bunkers were the homes to training units, not front line boats. Sadly, I very much doubt if it would be possible to attribute a clock to a specific submarine. I'm not aware of any register of serial numbers which would allow this, the only really easily identifiable part of the serial being the "N" suffix indicating a North Sea (Nordsee) fleet vessel.

Probably because he was a member of a uniformed organisation contributing to the war effort. The with or without Swords aspect of the KVK is nowhere near as clear cut as you would think. There are loads of examples of people you would think should get an award with swords ( an Army General as an example) getting one "without" whilst civilians got one "with".

Very nice Jan Arne !

Hi Stuart, Yes, the seller described it as Military Police but I'm not convinced it is. Firstly because of the missing scroll, but also because it is silver which would be for an officer, but there were no officers in the Corps before 1953 and the advent of the EIIR Queens Crown badge. I'm not sure when in 1953 the first officers joined the Corps (prior to that all officers were on attachment from other units and wore their original badges). I suppose if it was prior to the Coronation, there may just have been a brief window of time when the GVIR badge may have been in silver ( in fact I have seen a couple but assumed them to be "messed with" Brass OR's pieces ) but then they'd still have the scroll. Its a mystery to me!

I agree with Prosper. The Juncker badge is far superior. All of the U-Boat badges which I have had through my hands with provenance to U-Boat commanders have been Juncker pieces and several of the U-Boat badges donated to the U-Boot Archiv in Germany by former U-Boat officers have been Juncker pieces. There is no direct link between Schwerin badges and the top U-Boat aces other than the fact that Schwerin was the first firm to produce the U-Boat badge, so in the early part of the war most recipients of the badge would have received a Schwerin piece and as some of the big Aces would have qualified for their badge at this early point in the war, they too would most likely have received a Schwerin piece.

GWL (=Gebrüder Wegerhoff Lüdenscheid)

Saw the TV ads for this and briefly considered it before deciding that the wife would probably kill me. It looks very big and I'd have nowhere left to put it after accomodating Bismarck and my 6ft long Type VIIC U-Boat. Look forward very much to seeing some porogress hots !

Very nice original piece !