Tony

Hello, I received this today and thought I'd like to show it off a bit. It's the first lid with decals I've owned but I probably won't be keeping it. Can anyone say if the chinstrap is original the the helmet? Tony

You two have some really good items in your collections, of all the TR awards and badges I like I think the KM badges have to be my favourites. Probably because they are more affordable than Luftwaffe badges. I don't have any though. Tony

John, I can't remember where I read this but is it true that a typical fake will have a longer tail protruding over the wreath? Tony

I had a couple more scans to add but I'm not allowed to post pics any more. I'll have to remember to make them smaller next time. Tony

This is what the infantryman earned in France.

I've no idea here.

This page has something about letter pigeons. I don't know if the number 1927 is the year or just a number.

This page has details about payments to different banks and war bonds.

Hello Laurence, I'm not a 3rd Reich collector but I do like a lot of their badges. Hurry back from work (2 weeks! Wow, must be a long drive) and post your Heer & Luftwaffe badges. I really like breast eagles so I hope you post a few of those. Cheers Tony

Hello Nick, The German entries are just a few scribbles but I'll do a scan or 2 when I get home from work. Tony

I like these badges! When I was at tech college, one of the blokes brought his Grandad's badge in to show me. He didn't even know what his Grandad had done in the war and thought he might have been a pilot. Even though his family had no interest in the war and didn't even speak about what Peter's Grandad did, he still didn't want to give the badge to me. We lost touch after tech college so I wonder if he still has it. Tony

John, that's a very nice collection of medals. Dave, how comes I didn't see any awards when I was last in England? Where were you hiding them, with your daggers? Tony

The L?beck is scarce. Hamburg is quite easy to find and is the cheapest, but saying that, I haven't seen one for a while. You don't see the Bremen cross often and the L?beck cross even less. Don's L?beck is very nice indeed. Tony

Hello Gordon, A colour picture too, that's great. I wouldn't know where to begin researching poor old Sid. I do know where he lived and a little about his family from the 1891 census and of course from his diary. The diary is full of family birthdays and really shows what every day life was like for the men in the trenches. I would love to have a photo of him as well as his medals and death plaque but 1.7.16 plaques and trios go for far too much money. I take it he'd be entitled to the 1914/15 Star as he landed in France before the end of 1915. I find it amazing that his diary has survived in Germany over all these years and in quite good condition too. Tony

June 24th - July 1st 1916

June 18th - 24th

June 11th - 17th

June 4th - 10th

A week in March.

One week in February.

January

Some notes about his arrival.

His journey from England to France.

Gordon, Here?s part of Sid?s diary, I?ve scanned a few pages from the beginning and a few from his last weeks before going over the top. He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial and so has no known grave but, as there is also German writing (about carrier pigeons and later about savings) present, I can only assume a German soldier took his belongings from his body. I bought this diary last year in Germany from a dealer who obviously couldn?t speak or read English otherwise he would have wanted more money for it. Sid's birthday was 11th July 1897 so he was killed days before his 19th birthday and probably just after 7.30 in the morning. A German bought 5000 war bonds at 4.40 Marks each but I don't know who he was or when he bought them. Sid enlisted on March 15th 1915 and landed in France on 24th October 1915. He was slightly wounded by shrapnel on Nov. 29th but didn't get to the trenches (north of Arras) till 9th March 1916. He joined his battalion (1/7 Sherwood Foresters) on Dec. 4th 1915. I will be visiting the Somme in July and so will take a picture of the memorial to keep with the diary. The first attachment shows the names of the men in his section. Tony

Hello Marcus, Not really being a mint item person I would have left it as it was, but may have been tempted to clean it with a tooth brush if I was selling it. Why the aluminium foil? Still, a very nice piece though Marcus, clean or not Tony