Chris Boonzaier

I remember getting a copy of the citation from you years ago. I got 4 Knights Cross winner tunics from Willi Waldvogel many years ago, Fabich, Karl Lauch, Peter Prien and an Infantry Feldwebel whose name he had lost. I kept bugging to remember the name on the Feldwebel but he had lost the slip with the name and never managed to remember it. Best Chris

Hi, Indeed, this was very difficult to find out why this combination was like it was.... I cannot remember the exact details, but He was most of the time with the Division Grossdeutschland, but spent a time commanding the Füsilier Regt of the Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland.... these did not wear the GD. When I got the tunic, I knew the Origin to be kosher, but thought somewhere along the line someone had removed the GDs, then discovered just why it was like it was. Best Chris

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Another "old collection" thing... The Tunic of Max Fabich, he only found out he had the KC after the war, so had no sexy ties in the tunic....

Another "once I had...." hardrive find.. It was pretty intereting, a special folder with very detailed maps of the UK and booklets about the UK (I think it was water plants, power plants...) The maps were not made for the Luftwaffe, but for Units travelling by ground....

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Hi, this is a nice shot.... anyone know what the rifles are??

Hi Pete, will see if I can find anything. Best Chris

Hi a thought... I think the problem may be that we "ex 3rd Reich collectors" are stuck in a bit of a time warp. Having tossed all that stuff ages ago i have until very, very recently not spared a glance in that direction for quite a few years. my last WW2 book was Gordons Iron Cross one, and that was 10 years ago!!!! (No wonder a rounder was in there, they were still considered Kosher back then). Since then I have bought the odd WW1 book, and totally lost track as to what has appeared on the 3rrd Reich market. THEN... about a week ago i saw that Geissler had brought out a new EK book, his 1995 250 page book is now a 2011 650 page work... and I thought..."WOW, I am really out of touch with whats going on in the book world..." I have seen that there are new books, but not taken note of what the guys have been doing... A couple of days ago I was visiting a "new" collector, a year in the hobby, and more books than items... but what books they are!!!! Sascha webers 500 pages on the Infantry assault! Marc Garlasco's Flak book (knew of it but had never seen it), Gordon's Torpedo Los!... these kinds of work move the hobby literature into a new dimension. Another work was Dietrich März RK book. Now, I myself have had more than the odd moment when DM has almost driven me to smashing my keyboard, I cannot say we would be the best pair to be stranded in a hut together... but credit where credit is due.... it is a magnum opus, it is THE work on the subject. I wont be buying it because once again it is nowhere near my collecting field, but I think, flipping through it, that he has covered all bases, and very convincingly. I hope to get the Geissler book next week (hoping for a large Imperial section)... and hope it is just as good. These guys have really moved a bar a few nothces higher... I dabbled in Infantry assault badges for about 12 years... but a total newbie with Sascha Webers book has more knowledge at his fingertips than i had at mine back then. Best Chris

"The Rounder scam was just one of many attempts to pass fakes off as genuine and came apart at the seams after one of the key people involved in promoting it as a genuine variant had some sort of emotional breakdown and confessed to fabricating the story that constituted a cornerstone of the argument in favour of the Rounder. Moreover, one of the authors in question advanced the theory that these crosses had been produced by Paul Meybauer and even showed an example bearing the firm's PKA number. However, when asked to produce documentary evidence that this firm was an approved supplier of the KC to the government, he did not produce it." Hi, I really dont believe in any Bourne Ultimatum sized conspiracy. I have no idea if Meybauer made RKs, but by coincidence, see the post above, an ad of theirs saying they make ALL current medals... I think the Rounder thing was too long and drawn out to go back through old threads trying to recreate what happened, but seem to remember the "Key Person" involved was simply pretending a cross he had belonged to a relative, trying to polish his families military street cred, it then got sucked into the Rounder debate and he was stuck with his embelishment and had to ride the train till the end of the ride. I am a bit in the dark for large parts of the argument, but is the "Meybauer" the one in Gordons book? I think the fact that it made it in there just goes to show how widespread the acceptance of these was, less of a conspiracy and simply lots of people who thought they were good.... Best Chris

Hi, As he was one of the first guys issued it, i always think it may be the one that was the first award type, but that is of course maybe a bit microcosmic...

Veeeeeery nice!!! How did you decide to start collecting the Militärpässer ? Best Chris

Hi, Prosper has a lot of issues listed there, some maybe a bit contentious. The Flawed Die S+L crosses is a science in iteself and as we know cannot simply be dismissed out of hand. I used to be a big believer that the flawed ones were all postwar, but that argument has long been pounded into the ground. Some of us (me included) still dislike them, but mostly out of habit, kind of like, still disliking spinach after your mother proves it does not really taste that bad. As for the diamonds. Most modern references confirm that recipients attest to getting A and B pieces, and that there are differences in these. Rommels are displayed at Stuttgart. Museum well worth visiting. Many references state the PKZ numbers were from 1944, but I have had a totally unscrewed with DKiG group where the guy got it earlier, and it has the number. I think the DK is the stone in the shoe to the accepted 1944 date. Anyone with the dosh to buy KCs and/or diamonds needs to hit the books, deciding what is wrong and right, and deciding if he wants to avoid pieces about which there may be contention. The whole KC thing has maybe become LESS of a minefield over the years, we have left the "it is great quality, so must be original" behind many years ago, the "rounder" (IMHO less of a conspiricy, but simply a fake that was "there" for a time) has bitten the dust... a row of authors have dealt with the subject, building upon each other as they go. I am keen to get Geisslers new book, which seems to be 3 times as thick as his old one... for me a symbol as to how the research progresses. Andy Hopkins once said something that struck home... he said, Nowdays he fells securer buying a KC than an Infantry assault badge, the KC is now so well documented, there is little margin for argument or error. A simple Infantry assault... there is huge potential for fakes as the subject is too broad to research in detail. Anyway, I cannot afford any of the stuff above, about a decade ago I calculated how many Imperial docs I could afford if I flogged my 2 KCs, and sold em, .... and never regretted it. Too much money for one piece... even if you get one in a group, and there is a residual doubt that it was really that persons, it is just (IMHO) a bit of expensive metal. Best Chris

http://www.kaiserscross.com/152301.html we had 11 500 visitors last month !!!!

they were privately purchased. A trowover from privately purchased WW1 ones, I dont think you could get the later design one as a cut out. Best Chris

Think on the bright side of it... it meant you had more money for beer ;-)

Does anyone know where he was in 1918? In 1915 I have him with the 101 Div, and the 2nd Div, then in 1916 with the 10th Reserve...but replaced in 1916 from the 10th Reserve... nothing after 1916 Thanks Chris

A couple of nice things up, First off, Harry was visiting the Battlefields in Africa recently, allowing him to get some "Now" photos to compare to the "Then"... The Loyal North Lancashire Machine Gun Company, part one of its story cocers the formation and operations in German East Africa in October 1915 to April 1916 Some New additions to the Machine Gun Photo Album, including a rare Belt Fed Madsen Photo HERE A couple more for the Minenwerfer album as well HERE

Out of interest, how many of them have movie house stamps? There seem to be quite a few of late for sale online that have had come into collections via years in Hollywood. Best Chris

Can anyone read the signature? Thanks +Chris

Its funny, the French shoe Brush was the same when I was i nthe army in the early 90s only difference was the handle was then out of plastic.

Hi Joe, I dabble a bit in the French staff as well, but have not been able to pick up any of the 1914 Capote... Extremely scarce and if i remember correctly, some of the 1914 variations can be insanely expensive?

that 1907 Bavarian Arty is really really nice......

Here was his document

I think the wifes Grandfather lost his at Narvik, and bought this one in 1940 in Wilhelmhafen