Chris Boonzaier

Hi, thats what i was thinking, looks like my WS

Hi, Rhodesia regiment served in Africa, s 14-15 star.. the South Africans who served in GSWA were demobbed in 1915, so those who did go to the UK to join up were to late for the 14 star... If I am not mistaken this gent must have been one of the old contemptibles to get the ribbon device...

An interesting and nice looking piece. Can we guess the maker from the outline if the hinge?

Hmmmm... must have been back in the UK in 1914 though to get the 14 star...

15 years ago I used to think myself up on good and bad as far as badges go... not having collected WW2 badges for ages and ages I find it astounding as to how fast you forget what you once knew, and how much the hobby progresses with knowlege and regresses with better copies.... 10 years ago I would think "Yes!" or "No!".... nowdays I often think..... "ummmmmmm.... Maybe!" ;-)

Well... I must admit I was wanting and wanting to post I thought it looked good... but I was not sure and good thing I held my tongue. I now see the problems pointed out and am happy I collect paper... :-)

Agreed!

Hi, learned something then. :-) His docs are very expensive... on occasion i have found a few "must have" groups and have paid the price, but a lot is indeed over the top. Best Chris

A good place to start is the book "Histories of the two hundred and fifty one Divisions of the German Army"... not without errors, but is reprinted and is a mine of info. Best Chris

Hi, take a look at this overview of Glenn's http://www.kaiserscross.com/76001/91201.html Best Chris

hI; Landsturmmann... and yes, you are! Imperial Document collectors are the intellectual elite that raises the IQ pool of what would otherwise simply be a bunch of guys scratching around in old army surplas.... :whistle:

"I take it the dates are in fact when the medals were awarded and not the actual date the recipient won the medals." In your case it is the date the general signed the doc, which probably means it is the award date, unless he was catching up on a backlog. Some units first started issuing docs in late 1915, in a few cases the doc is signed in 1916, but the passbook shows the award was made in 1914. Hetre for example is a 1916 dated doc, but the IX Res Korps docs seem to have come out in 1916, and were issued retroactively, the date being the date where the doc was signed.. http://www.kaiserscross.com/41815/77301.html If the doc is signed at a lower level it may have an award date AND the date the Regimental commander signed it... like here... http://www.kaiserscross.com/40312/40321.html In some caes the date of the regt commander signature is shown, without mention of when the General had made the award... like here.. http://www.kaiserscross.com/40047/105301.html and in some cases the award date is entered, but not the date when the doc was signed... like here... http://www.kaiserscross.com/41815/114001.html best Chris

Hi, there is no hard and fast rule as to what kind of Doc a man would get. There was a plan to award "official" docs at a later date, but this was canned in 1918... so.... Depending on the unit you can have a Besitzzeugnis, an Ausweis or half a dozen other formulations. Some units just entered them in the pass book for the first year or so, then started issuing docs, some units started with big impressive docs from day one. Sometimes the division gave out the doc, sometimes the regiment, sometimes the battalion.... This has people believing that anyone could award an EK. In reality proposals were sent up to the Division, The Commanding General would approve and send the list back.... and depending on the division would either send the docs with the approval list, or more commonly delegate it down to Regimental level as far as issuing docs went. There was no official guidline as to what doc should be issued. They can range from hand written, to fancy multi coulered, depending on where the unit was and how much the commander wanted to spend. Best Chris

Hi, from experience, I post links for each update to kaisers cross, and never get a comment, but when I post individual items from the articles it gets a comment... so I balance, sometimes just announcing an update, sometimes with the item... works best for me. I suggest posting a few photos amongst the links... Best Chris

I have not touched WW2 headgear in years no but Garth sums up my thoughts in his post.... were thick grey liners like that used wartime? It seems like a Bundeswehr liner to me somehow.

That is indeed interesting! I have always looked and never found. From the production method do you think it was from a larger production run of steins or a one off? Do you think it was wartime or a post WW1 memorial piece? Best Chris

very cool bit of paper.... :-)

as this card was valid from 1938-43 it was issued before WW2 and must be for WW1. Best Chris

Anyone with anything to add?

Just bought this doc (very fancy and large) for a civvie who captured some escaped POWs... the doc is actually preprinted for this, just the name to be filled in, so I assume it happened enough to justify a document of its own....

Really interesting. I had seem bits and pieces of this in the past. Would love to have been "in " on it...

I am very skeptical about the match.... the only thing in common is the crow. Best Chris

good point, will examine the stamp when I get home. Best Chris

I have nothing to do with the seller, but man, this is tempting.... http://cgi.ebay.fr/DIPLOME-DE-DECORATION-LYS-1814-/390248521228?pt=FR_YO_Collections8militaria_DocumentsMilitaria&hash=item5adc9fde0c medal with interesting history indeed...... I am amazed that it is not 2-3 times more.... (ans I am not shilling for the seller!)

Here you go....