Chris Boonzaier

That ribbon system with press studs is really the business! Best Chris

Your English is better than mine when i am online after a few beers, just asl Robin! :-) What is the origin/Pedigree of the Dietrich one?

Even the Stamp is preprinted!

Oooops... you are right, i was looking at a second scan i had of this...

Nice one Chip! Thats the first time I have seen one like that! I once had a WW2 Generals/Division commanders... but this is way cooler... I guess he is not that difficult to reserach? Their Division fought with the Alpenkorps in Romania...

Agree with nick... lets see the award.... From the photo, whatever it is looks soooo rough.. the maker could be... well... ME!

He was Oberleutnant in 1917... Was in various bavarian Regts, in Turkey, then in the MW section of Freikorps von Epp... maybe a wartime photo, and someone did the notation on the back years later when he was a Hauptmann. Unfortnately not possible to see on the shoulder boards if he was a Hauptmann when the photo was taken...

What I find vwery hard to understand... some things carry across borders... something like being Catholic... There are international Catholic Youth meetings etc... So, if the French are mainly catholic, and so are Southern Germans or Bavarians... How do you sell them on killing each other, surely there would be a Religious "Wait a moment, they are catholic as well" buil in the back of the brain??

Hi, muchos Grazias! So, 14th Bavarian Inf Regt during the war, BMV4 , EK2, EK1, Turkish war medal and gold wound badge.

They are indeed a fantastic quality medal!

Hi Glenn, i just have this with a pencil notice hptm. Ritter v Mann 16 Kp/21IR I guess it may have been him? best Chris

No Paul, no holiday.... he seems to have been everywhere!... or at least according to postcard artists....

Does anyone know the first name of Hauptmann Ritter von man, apparently of the 21st bavarian Infantry Regiment? I assume he must have had a number of Higher grade Bavarian awards? Thanks Chris

Hi, so the 1. Generalquartiermeister and the generalguartiermeister both answered directly to Hindenburg? Would it right to assume the the 1. was at OHL Hauptquartier and the normal Generalquartiermeister was at the Kaisers gr. Hauptquartier.... or were both at OHL Gr. Hauptquartier? Thanks Chris

Hi, I am missing a link here... I thought it went Ludendorff to Groener in this position? Thaks Chris

On the right we have von Thaer.... (If anyone has a good pic of him I can use?) But who is the preprinted stamped signature on the left?? Thanks Chris

I know Andy explained this to me ages ago, but I have lost the notes I made on that....

" Sorry for hijacking this thread, but this is important information, I'd say, and not everyone reads the fake bar threads. " Anything that stimulates discussion is welcome. I wonder if his poor wife knows what he is doing in her name ;-)

Did you see this??????? http://www.ebay.de/itm/380547042509?nma=true&si=hwlSvPOKGTUSq449G77ZszzTIII%3D&rt=nc&_trksid=p4340.l2557&orig_cvip=true It is missing almost all of the original contents.... but still got that price!!!!

Hi, its an original photo, part of this series.... http://www.kaiserscross.com/246801/437343.html

Thanks a Million Glenn!!

Would we not have been allowed to ponder things for the 80 years before the Scharffenberg article came out? :-) Theories are better than a void, especially if we do not know if the Archives even have what we are looking for :-)

"Well... if the guy on the phone told you, it must be true. Or he didn't know. Or he didn't care. What I want to say - an old worker from a factory, who - as I assume - wasn't even there back than (in WW1!), is not a proof. Archive documents are." Hi, He seemed to know what he was talking about, and according to him, back in 1914-18 Frank und Reif were not in the EK business. From what I understood, the man on the phone IS "Frank und Reif" today... I think theories have to be approached with sceptisism, but if we left theory out of our hobby, and relied solely on archive fact, we would have to discount most of what we know... Best Chris

"Zehn and Neuhaus, who delivered thousands of 2nd class crosses?" Hi Sascha, either you are misreading my initial post, or I was not clear enough in how I formulated. It is great to finally know who Z is now, but that was not my point. My point is, "What/who were the esoteric inintials for"... 1) Although they may be less esoteric after Scharfenberg's article, for years it was theory amongst collectors as to who the makers were... Question... What purpose could they have served at the time? More likely for a system of control than for commercial purposes? IE for official control and nothing else. 2) Would such stamps serve any purpose on commercially sold pieces? Would a buyer have any use for them at all? Doubtfull if Mr Müller buying a cross in München in 1919 would know or care who "z" was. And for Herr Müller, it would have been a REALLY esoteric stamp... not even google to tray and look it up.... 3) If these are control stamps, can we assume any crosses without control stamps are Private purchase? ie. anything without makers initials, but insteead with Nothing, 800, makers crests alaMeybauer etc. etc. (Some state awards DO have silver content stamps however ) THOSE are my core questions, and are not answered by Scharfenbergs article. WHO the stamps belonged to is another topic all together, The Scharfenberg article came out some time ago, it has still not led to a definative list. best Chris

Hi, The search for facts usually starts off by theories and brainstorming :-), we have to start somewhere. If you dont discuss and wait for facts to fall from heaven... we have a long wait ;-) FR is DEFINATELY not Frank and reif, as I posted, i alled the firm and they informed me they did NOT make EKs. Best Chris