Chris Boonzaier

This was my one if its any use to you guys.

see here...

No longer having any I cannot compare... I never noticed the fingerprint thing... I always thought of the W as an open pair of legs.... and notice the up stroke of the L looks like a pointy penis with the forskin rolled back.... the "Phallic L" Sorry to drag this to a under the beltline level, but the phallic L was always what I looked for.

I see there are 2 histories of the Grenadier regiment 12. 1) seems to be a Reichsarchive one 2) Is by Walter Bloem, novellist and officer in the regiment. Does anyone have any other info on these? Thanks Chris

Wow.... that is better than professional!!

I got this in today all the way from Germany, I purchased it from Micha (Motorhead) I love the character the damaged wings give it! One wing is bent and the other has been knocked off, I almost think this was due to some sort of hit in the field because of the way the wing is knocked in and the other wing isnt not a clean sever. I also have a badge book that has period photos of Germans wearing 'battle damaged' awards. Hope you enjoy it! Im happy and will take pics this weekend when it is awarded to my mannequin! All the best, Jon Hi, it looks pretty good on the uniform, but i doubt it is battle damage. I would guess the wearer thought it looked better with the wings a bit more outward then had one of those "Oh Shi..!" moments when he tried to bend it? Anyway, it looks nice on the jacket. best Chris

A misguided attempt at making a period lapel badge?

I saw this link on WAF, thought some of the folks who are not there would find it interesting and terrible at the same time.... http://www.stuff.co.nz/4306566a10.html What a blow to a nations heritage...

Hi guys, thanks :-) This all helps me to approach my goal ....

Maybe he was not in a combat unit? best Chris

As far as the Bavarians go. I have a group to a guy on the staff of the 12th Inf brigade. With the group is the original Vorschlag, sent up to and signed by the Gen commanding the 6th bavarian Division in Nov 1914. It was for a 3rd class with swords for a bicycle dispatch rider.

Hi, in WW1 the EK awards were APPROVED at Divisional level for divisional troops or Korps or AOK level for non divisional troops (unless they were attached to a division in whivch case the div commander could approve it) The documents temselves could then be issued at much lower levels at a later date. In WW2 at some stage in the war these lower level preliminary docs became forbidden and all docs were issued at the level the award was approved. This leads to the Irrtum that the WW1 EKs were awarded at Regt or even Batln level. It was not so. Best Chris

As they seem to be worn in the guys period with the 72nd and 407th regt, can we assume a portion of the 407 was formed with 72nd guys and he was not the only one to go to the 407? thanks Chris

Pic two is from his company commander in the 407th.

Here are the pics. He was in the 72nd then transfered to the 407th inf regt.

What did the 72nd Inf Regt have in their straps? I have some pics to a guy in the regt but cannot match them to what he has. Best Chris

As long as he does not start dealing in documents!!!!!

Could it be that neither of them are correct and that the reason they are a bit off center is because someone took one without swords, drilled a hole, mounted the wrong ones (a bit off cent re), further down the line soneone said "Oooops! Wrong swords!" and replaced them with the second set?

Looks veeeeery much like the same piece. May we ask which auction?

YOU will know pops... just give it time :-)

Mein Name ist Hase for now :-)

Sascha, could you show what you consider to be a typical WW1 mount? Thanks Chris

I take it the fact that certain items are on "Private" auction means something?

I must admit that the fully mounted bar is just "en passage" here Chez Moi. I could only afford one so I took the single medal. The Bar goes to someone who owes me muuuuuch beer.....

Hi, how about seeing some pics of typical Baden bars with the way the Verdienst medal etc are mounted. Do most have the wide metal thing on the back? Thanks Chris