filfoster

...just one little button.....

My main reference: 'The German Generals', shows silver pips for line generals as well, not gilt. Can someone clarify? I'd submit that for the shoulder boards, the pips were the same: silver.

Not giving up. One will surface, eventually. Meanwhile, I am having good gilt copies made of the large size. That's a start.

Yes, sadly, these are Victorian, with her crown I require the king's crown ones. Since the current policy is that no new field marshals will be created, it's unlikely any of the military button suppliers will be making new ones. The last would have been made over 70 years ago (George VI).

V. Mackensen set

Still looking for small king"s crown field marshal button

Thank you for that. I wish there were some more photos of him wearing this uniform.

Graham: That is a nice, post-war photo, one I'd not seen. It's not the infantry uniform, however. You can see the frogging for his Hussar atilla and he's wearing his pelzmutze also.

arb: Thank you! Does anyone else have another photo of Mackensen wearing this uniform?

Does anyone know what uniform v. Mackensen is wearing in this photo? In 98% of photos of him, he's wearing his 'Death's Head' Hussars uniform. In the other 2%, he's wearing his adjutant's uniform. The white underlay to the shoulder cords hints that it's an honorary regimental 'chef' or ala suite appointment. THIS IS THE ONLY PHOTO OF HIM WEARING THIS UNIFORM THAT I'VE EVER FOUND. It appears in the book 'The World War One Sourcebook'.

BUMP. Many more months now trolling ebay and the internet to no avail. We know there are some out there. I'd gladly pay a 'bounty' if you can locate one for sale.

For fun, here are some of my other replica FM batons. L-R: French WW1; Russian, pre-WW1(no Russian WW1 field marshals); Imperial German (Prussian) and British.

No, and I didn't abbreviate "KonIg' on my copy (see attached photo. Yes, the bands are silver not white enamel and the eagles are slightly wrong form, but it's a decent copy, I think). We agreed above to drop the usual 'DEM'.

I know someone has one of these....

Even less likely then, that the alleged Hindenburg baton pictured in the Thies catalog is an original. Too many strikes against it, although other than the wrong form (too many crowns and eagles, reflecting the pre 1912 form), it looks real.

Does anyone know what happened to Hindenburg's marshal baton? Easy to imagine it's long gone, looted by the Russians or worse, destroyed. I hope it survived, perhaps with the family, still?

Thank you. I had only thought of Oblt. Franz Kern who had a higher Iron Crown decoration and wondered.

Most summaries of this medal say this decoration, the 1st Class, only went to Army and Corps commanders but I wondered if there were some lower ranking exceptions. Does anyone know?

Any more input on this? Either question: Exact wording of the Schriftbands Whether this photos show an original Hindenburg baton or a reproduction, wrong form (earlier type with 7 instead of 5 alternating crowns and eagles in column)?

BUMP. Any help? Smaller King's Crown field marshal buttons?

Yes. I can imagine, although I've never seen one, everything else 'high-end' Imperial German has been copied. What bothers me about the Thies catalog/ad baton is the earlier form, of 7 alternating crowns and eagles, versus the 5 alternating crowns and eagles on all the other batons awarded during WW1. AND, NONE of the photos of Hindenburg holding the formal baton show anything but the FIVE alternating crowns and eagles, even the bronze statue one. That's telling. Unless someone can provide a photo of him holding this more elaborate baton, it seems unlikely to me to be an original. I am copying it (NOT good enough for a 'deceptive copy'-the eagles are of a different form- but only for my uniform displays) so I need to at least have it made in the proper form and the correct Schriftband. I think we have solved the wording of the Schriftband. The copy will be of the FIVE alternating crowns and eagles.

Thanks to all those who show interest in beating this obscure, nearly dead horse further. On a closer examination of the photos provided by JohanH, I think the upper Schriftband says: *KONIG WILHLEM II. FELDM v. BENECKENDORFF u.v. HINDENBURG The bottom Schriftband is the same as posited above: FUR VERDIENST iM KRIEG UND FREIDEN 27 NOVEMBER 1914 Does anyone else suspect this baton may not be original, because of its earlier form of 7 alternating crowns and eagles vice the correct 5 alternating crowns and eagles for the time 1914?

Is anyone able to find additional pictures of the baton to show how Konig Wilhelm II might have been abbreviated?

Ach! Yes, you are correct. I edited the post. Any guesses about the 'Konig Wilhelm II' abbreviation?

JohanH: Now we're getting somewhere. I could not get a SINGLE result like this with any Google search. This still leaves just a few unanswered questions on the exact wording of the beginning of the top schriftband: I make out now: "König Wilhelm II D. FELDM * v. Beneckendorff u.v. Hindenburg" or could be "KG. Wilhelm II D. FLDM * v. Beneckendorff u.v. Hindenburg" This answers how 'Dem' and 'Feldmarschall' were abbreviated. How would 'Konig' be abbreviated? The lower schriftband is: "Fur Verdienst in Krieg und Frieden 27 NOVEMBER 1914". I had the date wrong in my original assumption.