Chris Boonzaier

I assume this was one of the Pre-HJ youth groups? Can it be something to do with the Totenkopf Schwimmer?

I have just won this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=290002972433 Has anyone seen one before? Obviously worn... was this given to the Austrians they were serving with... or other regts of the Alpenkorps? it is from 1915, the time when the Austrians awarded the Alpenkorps the Edelweiss cap badge....

Hi, I have been looking but cannot find a mention of him. The area the 18th Feb incident happened in had none of the traditional Brit regt operating in, mainly I.Y. which were an odds and sods mixture, so little chance of finding anything I am afraid. I have the medal group to the Boer officer that pulled up the tracks in that action :-) He actually won a DSO in WW1....

Baden Powell. I think the brits brought out a postage stamp with his head. or maybe a stamp used during the siege for mail being sent out of mafeking. Old BP had a large ego.

Impressive, they must have taken quite some time to collect !!

I think it boils down to a bit of hearsay and if you believe in a handful of prototypes or not. This is a discussion that has been had half a dozen times online with hundreds of heated posts... However, there are always more and more collectors online... at some stage maybe one of them could provide something concrete. There are some very advanced collectors with "prototypes" and they have paid big bucks for them... they now HAVE to believe. from the evidence so far, I choose not to.

I think that is photo shopped.

The sledge in question apparently has been painted with some kind of grounding colour. What was the standard factory colour? a green similar to the helmets? best Chris

Ooooohhh... must be useful down at the change rooms at the local swimming pool ;-)

Here are the backs and the stamp on the small one, which is not riveted, but welded at points where the others have rivets.

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Lets see your spades! Europe wide they seem to have been all very similar, so i am hoping for a thread where we can compare the spades of all nations (hence here in a general section and not in the german or whatever). All very similar. The green one is a German one from verdun, the one with a saw on the side a french one from the 1970s and far, by far the best quality. The black one... I heard may be Swiss? And what about the small one with maltese cross?

In the last pic you can see the beaten flat aluminum rivet on the right.

I assume the liner is a replacement, but period and used, not some collector thing. Could it be afghan? There are no holes on the side, but a tiny one up on the front in the middle, I assume for the pin of a badge of some sort.

The top with the stamp..

I bought this as Austrian... silly me It may have originally beenAustrian, but it was obviously worm later as well. Just the rests of the paint left, the rivets have been replaced, a washer, then an aluminum rivet squashed on both sides instead of a splint...

Damn... i shoulda guessed that myself

I heard that under the heavy robe.... they ALL look like this !!

I thought Ravenklau was from harry Potter, along with Slytherin, Huffelpuff etc ???? ;-)

All results so far look great. I prefer a scanner myself, but as long as the result is good either ones is fine. What we can achieve today... folks 10 years ago could only dream of !

Indeed, a Brit made one. Difference between a US and brit gasmask? About 10 times the price :-( ... man., what I would give for a brit one ....

Luverly !! I bet you wish you could pick a few

Hi, Just asked a serious Scout collector. he has one as well. They were given out within the regiment, but were also for sale commerially. A nice piece. best Chris

A militaria collector without an Epson... just aint a colector...

So far I have found one Brit/South African group to Boonzaier... he fought on the brit side in the boer war The name Boonzaier first burst onto the scene in South Africa around 1750 and we all originate from him, so he is related in a way. It was on auction. A boring QSA-KSA... and instead of the EUR150 it was worth.... I paid over EUR500.... There just happened to be another bidder with a passing interest. No way that will ever get a fraction of that price again :-(