Avitas

Hello fellow gentlemen, I have had this minty WW2 Victory medal set for a while now and finally scanned it for viewing and comments. This medal, ribbon, and ribbon bar set is in absolutely pristine condition, with no visible blemishes that I can see. The box has a couple rips on the corners, but other than that it is pretty good (and complete). I don't even think it has been worn (maybe a posthumously awarded medal) and it was probably stashed away for a long time in a cabinet or something. Thanks for looking and any comments are great, Cheers, Pat

Here is the back of what I think is the British Grenadiers cap badge, with the maker mark. Cheers and thanks for looking, Pat

Here is the other badge I picked up, what I think is a British Grenadiers cap badge but I could be mistaken. I also am not sure if this is ww1 or ww2. The maker is F.E. Woodward, B'Ham (Birmingham). This is an extremely well made die-struck copper piece and any help on ID and dating it are welcome. Cheers, Pat

Hello gents, Just got a couple new ones on a trip to Vancouver Island. First up is a Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers cap badge. This is a cool design with the horse in front of the lightning (I assume to represent the electricians in the group) and the two colours are always nice. Cheers, Pat

Hi Tom, I have tried almost everything but there seems to be no areas to stick a piece of paper in between, it is either perfectly made, or possibly solid silver. When I first got it I assumed it was solid silver because where the paint had worn off the colour underneath matched the frame perfectly, and both looked like silver. After researching I just made the assumption that it was brass because they were the most common type of one-piece. I really don't think it is zinc because there is absolutely no zinc rust and the frame does indeed look and tarnish like silver,as well as the high spots that are worn off appear silverish as well. I wonder what the chances of this being solid silver would be? Cheers and thanks for the help again, Pat

Here is a scan of the eagle shown in Jack Pia's "Nazi Regalia" book (if there is any problems with copyrights etc please remove the picture, but the proper credit is given to Ballantine Books and Mr. Pia). It looks like my eagle in post #11 is either a copy of this shoulder strap device or maybe a modified shoulder device that was made into a pin post-war. Just a couple ideas. The shoulder strap shown is for a "Boatswain in the Naval Administration." Any help and opionions are welcome on this or any other item in this thread, Cheers, Pat

Here is the front of mine for comparison. I don't know the maker of mine but it appears to be a different one than yours Greg, as the numbers and the W are quite different. Nice crosses for sure. Cheers, Pat

Here is the reverse of my one-piece ww1 EK2 which is one from the mid to late 20's or early 30's and it is mounted with a Hindenburg Honour Cross with Swords. The reverse is very similar to mine so I will post the pic of the reverse first. I think yours looks fine and is from between wars period. My two clams worth, Pat

Lastly, the close-up of the back of the ww1 EK2, which is a 20's issue one-piece I believe after some discussion here. Thanks for all the help so far! Cheers, Pat

The pic we've all been waiting for, a close-up of just the EK2! Cheers, Pat

Finally got some better scans of this Ek2, I think it is brass but it may be zinc, as there is a greyish tone to it as well as the brassy tone in person from what little areas the paint has rubbed off. Enjoy the better scans (this was one of the first items I scanned when I joined, so the first scans are really sub-par) and any more comments are welcome. Thanks again, Pat

A belated thanks Stephen on confirming the ID of this eagle for me, It is always good to know you're detective work is correct, as I thought it was for the Forest Service or Post Office. This would be a civilian used eagle then and would only officer's have this eagle, or did any member of these organizations wear the cap eagle? Just a small question but it was on my mind. Cheers, Pat

Harry Potter the evil pagan magician strikes again! Anyways, are these easy to come by these days or did I find a unique item? To me, only a non-smoker would have kept these as a souvenir as most cigarettes would have been smoked to the last, especially right at the end of the war. My guess is the German took one last cigarrette from the pack and traded it to an Allied troop for something, or a more morbid option is that was his last cigarrette before being killed. Either way I like them and they sure don't package cigarrettes like this anymore Cheers, Pat

Not to mention he was a very cynical, cold, and calculated thinker. After reading his diaries, I got the impression that he thought of the potential consequences of every word and action beforehand, and made sure whatever position he took maximized whatever point or idea he was propagandizing at the time. His sheer lack of compassion for human life is enough to understand how a man like this lived the way he did. A little bit of Napoleon syndrome as well thrown in never helps either. Goebbells was a genius for sure, not some brainless lackey, but there are criminal geniuses around nowadays as well, and there are comparisons to modern day politicians and media but that is a whole other can of worms that I do not care to open. Interesting discussion this is, Pat

Yes, it is a shame but I got it at a discounted price so as long as it is original at least then I got my money's worth. How would a clipping like this affect the value of it, would it be almost worthless or still keep some of it's value? I don't usually ask about money and such, not looking for a specific value or anything, just a general idea on how much these sort of "mods" affect value on items. Cheers and thanks in advance, Pat

Thanks for the input David I wonder if you or someone else has one by this maker to post and compare details with mine? This would be great to see what details would lean it towards being this maker. Thanks again for your help David, Pat

Thanks Jim, I still am impressed with how the blade has kept in near mint condition, those Swiss know their steel! I will have to keep a lookout for the leather piece and if anyone out there has one available please PM me. This is one of two bayonets I have (other one is a ww1 German issue) and I hope to find a few more soon as they really are a great item to collect. Cheers, Pat

Hello all, I just thought I would add that the blue paint on the "Flash" helmet (first one pictured) looks to be done in period and the drawings are crude enough to be done on a ship with minimal supplies by a sailor. No ideas if the wings are meant to resemble the comic book character "The Flash" as the 40's version of this character wore the Doughboy helmet with wings exactly like this one, or is it a military marking of some kind? My only other guess is this Canadian sailor was a diehard Detroit Red Wings fan and drew the symbol on each side, as well as his ww2 minesweeper's name (HMCS Minas of the Royal Canadian Navy). Cheers and any help is great! Pat

The sheer amount of designs out there is daunting, and it never ceases to amaze me just how many great tinnies there are out there! This is probably a pretty scarce pin, but 90% of tinnies are scarce. This particular pin is extremely well-made and minty and it has a very nice design. Add the possibility of a Rommel connection and it just adds to the pieces charm. Defininitely worth researching just how many of these were made and what type Rommel had (If only there was such a database, but you never know). I await the day that a new full-colour front and back picture of every tinnie and maker variation book comes out (all 10000 pages of it in 10 volumes) and there is finally a definitive source. Who knows, maybe these forums will bring about and inspire such an undertaking.... Cheers and great badge! Pat

The blob was created by overheating the sodder when the dealer put the replacement pin on over the remains old pin assembly. He did the exact same thing when the one of the Reichsparteitag tinnies as well, it melted all the way through to the front when he was soldering it back on. As I said before, this HJ Potsdam is likely a fake, but I'm not going to give up 100% hope on it, as there are some positive attributes as well, but the negative is much more evident as pointed out by Chris and Don. Thanks for all the help so far in wading through these examples, and I think we have ID'd most of them as being good or bad, but there are a couple like the two disputed Reichsparteitag 39 and 37 tinnies that just don't seem like fakes, but I could be wrong of course, and a couple with no comments at all (like the poor late-war snowflake tinnie/pendant in Italian, French, and German) Luckily I did end up with some nice Labour Day tinnies and some others that are stone cold original, so that is good, and I would appreciate any more help on maybe summarizing these as good and bad as it has been a long, strange trip on this thread! I definitely see what you mean about accepted pin types and I have been looking at that feature ever since, so thanks again for the sharing of knowledge! Pat

This is one of the more quality style tinnie than usual, almost like a war badge or award in quality and design. These have got to be some of the nicest designs and manufacture of tinnie or member badge that I have seen. (the green does it for me) I will have to keep my eyes peeled for one of my own. A side note, comparing to some of my fakes the Frank & Reif example definitely looks cast, but whether it was cast during period is another question. Tough call indeed. Cheers and thanks for showing these fine pieces and references, Pat

I noticed (with a tip-off from Dan) fellow member Rosenberg's recently posted Restunginspektion dog tag ("Help with Dogtag" post in the Heer forum) and it has exactly the same colouration and wear patterns as this SS-Heimwehr, and appears to be of the same material. Maybe if Rosenberg reads this he can post his pics (and maybe one of the reverse as well) for comparison with this one, and some measurements would help out as well, as it appears to be a similar dogtag in terms of colour and wear and patina. Thanks in advance, Pat

Hi Douglas, Beautiful helmet by the way, so rare to see them complete like this! Just picked up my first and I do love it! As for the maker AL, it doesn't show up on the lists of German and Austrian M16 helmet makers that I have seen, but it could be one that is still unknown. There is an AW Austrian model but nothing else I've seen close to AL. Maybe someone else knows some more on this, Cheers, Pat

Just finished reading the diaries of this yappy little brownnoser (read the diary if you disagree) and couldn't help but post on this pic. The ability to lie to millions of people with a straight face and write the truth later in a book is something else...anyways, can you post a pic of the reverse as well Dan? It must be hard to authenticate a signature like this, as it is even hard to authenticate modern sports autographs. I guess you have to rely on the source and maybe an expert opinion or two. Any tips on authentic autographs and how to spot one are welcome as I'm sure it is not an easy thing to do, and thanks for posting Dan Pat

I'm sure many a fine sailor enjoyed their canned sauerkraut with this fork I am still a little amazed that they had marked cutlery, it seems that almost everything had a swastika on it at one time. A nice fork that I still wouldn't mind in my collection, so thanks for showing, and if anyone has a full set or some multiple pieces, I too would like to see them. Cheers, Pat