Gordon Williamson

Superb photo Erik ! A fair few Dollars worth on that plate. Note the artillery career emblem on the sleeve of the officer holding the plate.!

These aren't casting pits but corrosion. Brass is an alloy containing Zinc, and the Zinc content can deteriorate (known as dezincification) through contact with for example salty atmosphere etc. I have had a few "well travelled" early Tombak KM badges showing the same effect.

Thanks for the link Bob, a truly awesome collection. !

Dan, Looks perfectly fine.

Thanks Bob. Here's an interesting aspect a lot of folk probably aren't aware of, but on genuine officer OS Caps, the joint in the braided piping is often not at the centre of the back of the cap, but to the rear of the right hand flap.

There are a few posted in this thread. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=577&st=0

Hi Paul, Looks OK to me.

Superb, thats the other Cap Badge I thought I needed on the left. Didn't know about the other version on the right and wasn't aware of the shoulder title. Another two pieces to add to the list.

Good point Graham, yes the MPGS should be included. I have never actually seen an example of their badge "in the flesh", only in photos. After posting last night, a quick trawl on the Internet got me the Canadian Provost cap badge with Queens Crown, a rare MMP cap badge/shoulder title and the New Zealand Military Police (Kings Crown)- as it only had a crown and no cypher, I believe the same one was used for GeoV and Geo VI periods ( WW1 and WW2). Leigh -Gawd ! Marrying up staybrite anodised badges and rubbery plastic accountrements should be some sort of offence. Fortunately our RSM had no objections to people replacing their anodised RMP cap badges with decent Brass ones. Come to think of it a good number also took the opportunity on exercises in Germany to replace their issue berets with Feldjäger issue which were the same colour but better quality.

Zimbabwe Need the previous type which had the Lion over "Rhodesia" in the centre and "Military Police" in the lower scroll, plus any shoulder titles. As I get any additional stuff, I will edit these posts with updated images and hopefully, once complete (or as complete as I can get it), it'll make a useful record of all the MP badges of Britain and Commonwealth- or at least the metal ones, I've not gone into modern hand embroidered officers stuff.

South Africa - Current Type Need any should titles which may have gone with either type.

South Africa First Type introduced 1935. I believe these came in a variety of metals (including lead)and quality

New Zealand Only have the Staybrite so need Brass and anything pre Queens Crown.

Australia Post WW2 in Brass and Staybrite. Need shoulder titles and any pre-WW2 stuff such as the badge for the Anzac Police Corps.

Don't have much at the moment so my purpose in showing what I have is in the hope that if any of you Gentlemen spot any badges or shoulder titles for these organisations for sale with dealers or on EBay etc and you aren't interested yourself, could you please let me know. Canada. I need the Cap badge with Queens Crown and the Collar Dog with Kings Crown plus any older insignia pre WW2. (The Canadian Military Police CMP is of course identical to the Corps Of Military Police CMP used by Britain. RCMP is included as the very first Canadian Military Police unit was formed from RCMP volunteers and continued to wear RCMP shoulder titles.

I posted this pic a year or so back and came across it again when clearing out some old photo-files on my PC. Seeing it again encouraged me to make the effort to fill in gaps , mostly on Commonwealth stuff.

Chip Thanks for the info. I will order a set. Cheers Gordon

Can anyone recommend any publications which have any information on uniforms worn by the Feldgendarmerie during WW1 ? Colour of piping worn, what type of Pickelhaube was worn etc. I have seen yellow woven collar tabs with a blue stripe down the centre described as Feldgendarmerie. Is this correct ? The Ringkragen is about the only item I see regularly for sale which is clearly specific to Feldgendarmerie.

A copy I'm afraid. Doesn't look too bad from the front, but the reverse gives it away. The hinge/pin system is all wrong. If you do a search in this KM forum you should be able to find some examples of genuine pieces. The differences on the reverse will be apparent.

From the way this one is constructed, I'd say it is an early Bundesmarine cap before they made the change to white tops for officer visor caps. The top is far too small in comparison to the base when compared to Kriegsmarine caps. RZM tag is of course totally spurious.

Dave is fine. I spoke to him this morning. He is having a bit of a sabbatical away from militaria/collecting at the moment and concentrating on other things. Lot of charity related work. Better chance of a response if you email him direct rather than PM.

One can't help wondering what a WW1 veteran, serving as a mere Steward in the Kriegsmarine did to win the EK2 again in 1940 ! Timewise, fits in with the invasion of Norway and only larger ships would have mess Stewards.

Here's a rather interesting cap. Single button flap and being worn with the full set of metal insignia from the Army Visor Cap.

Wolfpacks were "fluid" and didn't have a set number of boats attached. New boats could join a pack whilst others could leave. A Wolfpack on patrol could have other boats sent to join it if it detected a large convoy. The Wolfpacks were not numbered but had code names like Mordbrenner (Arsonist), Uhlan (Lancer), Raubritter (Robber Baron)etc.

I can't see any major issues with this one. Looks OK. The flaw on the number "3" extending so far is something I haven't seen before. Likewise the horizontal maker mark, but neither give me any great cause for concern. I haven't seen any copies that accurately pick up the flaw in the 6 o'clock arm, so my guess is that this is a good one.