Greg Walden

Stavelot is one of my favorite battlefield places, and looks like it's a good one for coincidences. One weekend in 1994 I was staying at the hotel that's up at the top of the square, just out of view up to the left in Wade's photo. As Wade will remember, many of the cobblestones in the square are round, and so they can have some 2-3 inch deep "pockets" between them. As I was walking toward the hotel I just happened to glance down and see the .30 cal. US rifle bullet that's in this photo, nestled down between cobblestones! It was green with verdigris on the top where it was exposed. Strange to think so, but it had laid there undisturbed for 50 years!

(and you better bet I combed every foot of that square after that, but didn't find anything else!)

The rest of the relics were dug at La Gleize.

Best,

Greg

small w Wurster in silver - needle missing but nthe attachement to the back is all there.

Regards, Hardy

Hi Hardy,

Very nice! Hard to find the small w in silver.

Best,

Greg

Ribbon and a comparison of this one between two good ones.

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Sad to say, even this common Third Reich award has been faked.

This one is made of a shiny silver-colored metal. The detail is not as good as a real one. It's cast, though it's a good casting. The suspension ring is unmarked. The ribbon lights up like a Christmas tree under blacklight, and is very "slick" and doesn't feel like original ribbons.

The biggest giveaway is that it's too small in diameter.

Best,

Greg

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Well, at least she had a nice smile ...

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Cufftitle close

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Here are some LSSAH wedding photos I got a while back in a Mein Kampf "wedding edition." 1942 at the earliest, judging from the Ostmedaille ribbon.

Any other LSSAH wedding photos out there?

Best,

Greg

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Alas, the normally very neat Wurster craftsman let solder run over the back right where the w is, but if you put it in just the right light, it shows.

Greg

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Some will have seen this from the WA forum, but I'll put it here too. A rarer Wurster zinc massive PAB in silver with the small w mark.

Greg

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und ich auch ... I guess the Berlin "hoard" ones are floating around!

Best,

Greg

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Hi Dan,

I've had that RRS for a long time; it's the only one I've had with the "less detailed" grass. The "more detailed" grass all had swastikas with complete lower arms, and talons.

Best,

Greg

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Hi Jan Arne,

Thanks for showing your latest RRS; that's the only other one I've seen where it looks like the eagle has no claws, and the bottom arm of the swastika ends abruptly at the top edge of the turret (like this one).

And you know I love the hollow Hymmen!

Best,

Greg

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For your interest, a website on the Tiger IIs of schwere SS-PanzerAbteilung 501, attached to Kampfgruppe Peiper during the Ardennes Offensive. All comments welcome!

Best,

Greg

Tigers in the Ardennes

Marcus,

That thing looks even prettier here (if possible) than on the other forum!

Best,

Greg

Greg, you need to put some vasoline on that pab or there will not be much left of it for you to pass down the line.

Yes, Don, you're right - that one I have never treated because of its "lowly" status, but I need to!

Best,

Greg

and the very first PAB I ever got, from a US vet long ago! Missing some hardware, but it's a keeper for me!

Best,

Greg

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With a variant hinge and catch.

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Here are some rather more common examples, from the (so-called) Steinhauer & Luck family.

Best,

Greg

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Don,

Great PABs! I'll bet you've waited long for the AWS 1942; I'm still waiting for one of those. But I'm partial to the Hymmen!

Best,

Greg

Porcelain "tinnies" from the Gau Bayerische Ostmark.

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Here is a porcelain table medal from Gau Bayerische Ostmark - I assume for the 1936 Gau meeting in Bayreuth.

How common are porcelain table medals? I saw one from Berlin recently on WA forum. Several of the Bayerische Ostmark "tinnies" were porcelain (the eastern part of the Gau was a porcelain manufacturing center), but I haven't seen many table medals.

Regards,

Greg

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There was a two-volume edition of Mein Kampf described as the "Geschenkausgabe" (gift edition) that came in a shipping/storage box, of cardboard. Does anyone have one with the box intact, and if so, please post it.

Here is my 1937 edition ... this is the more expensive Halbleder version (the other version was simply clothbound) ... but I don't have the box.

Thanks,

Greg

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