Chris Boonzaier

If I am not mistaken there were >Iron Crosses awarded for this work?

I seem to remember the Reichsarchive volume "Yilderim" had a break down of the units in one of the loose flyers at the back

Exactly, He could have been 2KM outside of the german border pushing paper and he would have got this, and 3KM away, just inside the border, the guy answering the mail would have gotten a white ribbon or war service medal.

Can the 1st word on the astamp be Ersatz?

Hi, The owner of the tags on Bleuhorizon is a good friend, I will ask him for some good scans. But comparing tags can only be used to prove an item is original (Fonts etc).... non matching is not a proof o not being original.... see the differences on these... and they came into the comapny at the same time!! almost matching, but very different...

Hi, I am still happy with it, I will dedicate some serious time researching it. I really have trouble thinking someone decides to fake a tag, chooses a random name, one of a guy killed in 1915, mispells it, gets the birthdate wrong, from a small town in the obscure ass end of nowhere... and makes an otherwise perfect tag. There is enough there that makes me think that unlikely. Where would he have gotten the name, birthdate etc in the first place? If a researcher does not turn up anything, then I will bury it. If you find anything else, even negative, please post! Best Chris

Hi, Indded... I saw that. I am always of the opinion that pieces that may have an issue should be hounded until the truth is there, good or bad... and have been in the frustrating position when someone to too much of a zealot to realise that what he has is not good... so I know where you are coming from and I am really, really open to argument and will take all this into account. But i think the best way is to contact a researcher in the area. We know facts that are online, but cannot be sure what is not online. If there is a Rudolf II he could have moved there in 1904 from the neighbouring village. We are talking about a village in Modern day Poland... and I have to ask the question, how much information about that era is online? and for the bit that is, how many holes are in it? Leo's father and Grandfather and great uncles etc were all from Pommern... where were they living? How many kids did they have? if Leos Brothers kid moved there in 1910.. etc etc... they are questions i need to ask, without becoming one of those collectors who lives on vain hope :-)

Hi, I hear you, but am not convinved. The geni.com concentrates on one wing of the Herzberg family. As I have found with my own family research, the entries online are usually from one person following his branch back in time, and ignoring the branches of Uncles, etc. etc. There could be 2-3 other branches of the family in the area, The information in Geni is not the official record, but just what a single family researcher in Estonia has entered into the computer. The birth dates, although close are also not the same. I agree that it is an irritating similarity that I am going to try to clear up, but I am not ready to discount the tag. (an i know that makes me sound desperate, but i have seen too many anamolies in the hobby to begin to doubt). I will try and contact the city and have the birth register checked, I saw there was a office on a web page. There are so many things I like on this... Even little things like halfway through HERTZBERG he had stamped HERZ, then corrected it with a T. Best Chris As we can see, Gene looses trace of the grandfathers Carl Viktor Bogislav Hertzberg brother and his wing of the family, the further back you click the more you see is missing.

That looks fantastic RTJ.... top level display!

I for one have really missed you! You old bear you!

Hi, First off, I am always happy when a piece generates discussion, and I think scarcer pieces should always do that. ... so , a bit of Brainstorming.... I had seen that that a Rudolf Hertzberg died, but on neither of the entries is a birth date mentioned? My thoughts on the tag- - The tag is old, as is the stamping, comparing it to uncleaned other tags from the period there are no red or even orange lights. If this was to a regular infantry unit noone would question the originality based on the disk itself. - From what I see, there was indeed a Rudolf Polzin who died in January 1915, but without a birth date? - Polzin had 5 500 inhabitants during the war. Germany was (and still is to a degree) a country without much population movement. Even today in the village I live in there are older people who are proud never to have been more than 50KM from the vilalge. So if a Rollcall in a Town Hall in the US would Be "Macmalley? Chen? Risottario? Gudmunsen? Heidenreich? Zapatista?" in the village I live in (coincidently 5 500 inhabitants this year) it would be "Reinhardt? Seitz? Boonzaier? Schmidt? Reinhardt? Seitz?" ... just the small town demographics makes the name selection much less varied, and in most villages there seem to be 2-3 family names that are very comman... By us it is Reinhardt, Seitz, Hartlaub and Fecher.... 3km away in the next village about 10% of the people are called "Zahn"... With Reinhardt and Seitz in our town there are sometimes 3-4 men with the same family name. -My town had about 1 500 inhabitants just before the war, but already on the very first page of ancestry I find 4 First and Family name combinations that are the same, i.e. 8 soldiers, 4 names. - I think taking the tag itself into account, and question of how likely it is that someone making a copy would go through Verlustlisten and choose someone who had nothing to do with the regiment, and who was in fact killed before the Regiment existed.... the question is... Is it likely that for some bizarre reason a faker took this name, when it is so much easier to take one off the list of KIA Flammenwerfer men.... or is it more likely that there were 2 Rudolfs? - another point, the seller had about 10 tags for sale, all very bog stansard stuff, and he sold more in the past. He seems not too up on what he is selling, a few months ago "R.I.R. 53" listed as "reiter Infanterie regiment" etc. This was listed with no mention of FW. So langer rede, kurze sinn... I think it likely and probable and maybe even certain that there were more than 2 Rudolfs in Polzin. And althouh it may seem as if I am trying to shout down all arguments againt, i would be very pleased to hear all thoughts! :-)

Hi, I am all ears... :-)

A new favourite for the list.... Achtung, please note: this tag is a fake.

A nice little Gem that slipped through unnoticed by the world on Ebay... :-)

Hi, Very nice! Was it to a German? Was atranslated doc with it? Thanks! Chris

Thanks Guys, another one nailed then.

Hi, the kick for me when I fly to London is seeing the famous Thames bends that the Pathfinders used as a navigation aid.... always brings the battle of Britain to mind ;-)

Admittedly I only had the Wikipedia page, but I cannot find and Regiments Führer on the list that looked anything like this... Does anyone have an idea? Thansk Chris

Years ago I owned this PO badge. It is not only a Pilot Observer, it belonged to THE Pilot Observer. Heinz von Holleben. He was not a famous pilot as far as I no, but he did command KG100, the main pathfinder group during the battle of Britain. I am not sure if the then buyer noted any of the details, and I understand many guys buy the piece and not the story, but if you do have this piece in your collection it may be worth noting who it belonged to

An unusual document for a joint Policeforce....

Hi, is it my imagination or are these waaaay longer than normal?

This is similar...

Hi, did he go on to serve in WW1?

Very nice indeed!! What was the extent of his WW1 service?

HI, Here is a nice shot of a military official with an EK2...