Chris Boonzaier

I am still totally confused here... what is the "royal Saxon Rifles" ? i.e. what is the German term?

Whats its name in gwrman? Best Chris

I bought my last British Trio many, many years ago... my prices may be a bit out.... ;-) I simply meant the difference between a "killed by arty in a boring place at a time nothing was happening" compared to "killed with a bayonet on the first day of the somme" .... Another thing that effects German prices very little is collectors who are willing to pay premium for Local Units. For my "local" unit in bavaria, there IS unfortunately competition.... but for most other units there is none....

Astonishignly simple staff, when you compare it to some of the jewell encrusted silver or gold jobs that other people had.

Haha... now why did I choose "34th Division" as the example..... it was 34th morning today ;-) I agree that Infanterie Division sounds correct (and puts the artillery elements in the division in their place!)... but it begs the question.... why do we have Reserve Division instead of Reserve Infanterie Division ?

as I prev. said - he probably handed them out to anyone standing still............ Admittedly my experiance of police retirement parties is mainly limited to Scottish Branches of the force, and those are described in crime fiction.... so "standing still" and/or "still standing" are probably a very small % of the initial numbers of people invited to the party... ;-)

There are some ugly faced collectors here.... none of you have an ugly cross????

Obviously not an awardee.... but an interesting Pic anyway...

Reading over my notes, going back years.... I find myself talking about the "34th Division" and the "34th Infantry Division" .... Then it struck me.... An I applying WW2 era terms to WW1 era units? I am not the only one to do it, But to be really correct.... did "Infantry" divisions even exist in WW1? In German Period texts they seem to use both ... Which is technically correct? Best Chris

There is another of these.... http://www.muenzauktion.com/pater/item.php5?id=1110311004

Maybe the way forward is to Guess what the initials are? The problem with the usual Googling forward is that "Police" and "child" bring up thousands of hits about Child Abuse, but little about retirement....

Hi Jktu, I think in the hobby there are often details lacking in literature, and collectors observe over years, and build up theories. Sometimes the theories are right, sometimes they are wrong, but either way they are important, because voicing them and getting feedback is the only way forward, all the best Chris

I am guessing there was a "Titus" and "Vitus" mixup....

Both seem to come from Mons....

I think you forgot the first part of the sentence ;-) "I still am wondering if...."

That is seriously sexy! I love old oak....

I would stretch this theory even further and say this may only apply to sectors where there is British interest, and only with named items

Hi, I agree and disagree at the same time ;-) My one, which i stupidly sold, cost EUR1000, but I would snap it up again at that price. I think over the last few years the influence of "British Medal collecting" is slowly (very slowly) being felt. I think I have been applying it to documents for a number of years, although I dont think it is enough influence to effect the market as a whole. By this I mean, if you take the standard set of British Medals to a man killed sometime in 1915, you may pay EUR100... if you take that same set to a man killed on the first day of the somme... you may have to pay 5 times more.... because the action makes the price of the medals. In German collecting, it is visable on ebay with things like photos.... Some sellers tack the word "Verdun" on to photos that have nothing visable to do with verdun, as they think this ups the price.... So far German awards have been little effected by the "where amd when".... but I think over the next few years you may see items like this develope not a simple price "Karl Friedrichs are worth EUR1200"... but rather "Karl Friedrichs are usually EUR1200, but in case XXX thay are EUR1500 and for case XXX they could bring EUR2000" , an award to a Landwehr guy "somewhere in Russia" being on the lower end of the scale, and someone on the Somme, or Vimy Ridge being the high end of the scale....

That is NOT to say that it was not awarded for one of any number of violent skirmishes.... these were simply not "big" enough to be mentioned in the battle calander of the unit. I have plenty of groups where the action where the man was awarded his group was not important enough in the "big picture" to warrant a mention, and "micro research" is required to find it... makes the action no less heroic

At this early stage it is probably a very nice one indeed.... From the 10th October until June 1916 the division is listed as being in Artois, to the west of Bapaume. The notable actions for 1914-15 only seem to have been the 17th to 18th and 21st of December 1914 at Fricourt and Mametz, f0r 1915 you need to wait until June for the fight at Serre. So if it was awarded for a notable fight, it would be mametz IMHO.

"B.14.R.M.G.12." (Bavarian 14th Reserve Infantry Regiment, weapon number 12). Eric I think there is an error in the description.... I am by no means an expert, but i think this is Bavarian 14th Infantry Regiment, MG Company Weapon 12... not Reserve Regt.

The Ken Stott series where he plys DCI Red Metcalfe are classics.....

There are some fantastic Modern British Police Series.... I have missed this one, will make an effort to see it. I was impressed by the "whitechapel" series, especially the fact that it is on youtube...

Like this? http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/50877-some-rare-minenwerfer-stuff/?hl=minenwerfer

Collect russian has two pieces pieces in more or less the same size and quality (but different badges) One is a Mini for garduates from a school, one ia a collar badge. I think collar badge of some sort is mist likely..... maybe also a hat badge?