Robin Lumsden

Great patina on that badge. It takes 100 years to look like that !! Never, never polish it Just wash it with soapy water.

Nice !!

A bit better than the one that started the thread. :)

I'm not bothering with trying to get a refund. The cross didn't cost much more than the postage !! Just one for me to put down to experience.

Don. Nice group !! Bolewts58. Cross arrived today. You were right ........... I was wrong !! There are a few bargains left on eBay, but this wasn't one of them !!

Rest easy ......................... I think I fell for one of the Aachen items. :( It has still to arrive. The good one I posted is from another site. Another lesson for me !! Thanks for your advice.

IMHO ..........................

Should it look like this ??

Just picked this up on eBay, You can see where the idea for the 'helmet and leaves' design of the WW2 Ostmedaille came from.

So ........................ this grouping could exist.

Maybe unlikely by today's standards .................... but by no means impossible. There were a lot of 'old coppers' in the Victorian era. Policemen in their 60s were not unusual in the 1880s.

Hello Doug. Feel free to use my pix. I like your cross .................. provenance is everything with these things. The '57 item is just a modern fantasy piece. All the best, Robin.

................ and one for the '57 vets !! :)

Here's one currently up for grabs ........................ for over £3,000 !!

Hello Doug. Nice work. I have one of the old 1960s TLO crosses ...................... he managed to give them better detail than the (alleged) originals !! Cost me about £30. Personally, I first came across any mention of the Don Cossack Cross in this book ................ I think I was about 12 years old at the time !! Happy days.

Chris. They used the old type skull in the prototypes, which were rejected. But ................... nice to see the skull still featuring on British uniforms in these politically correct times. .....................

Thank God !! We Brits still issue military badges with skulls !! My latest pick-ups are the 4 variations of officer/OR cap & beret skulls for the new 'Royal Lancers' regiment, formed in 2015. Along with the regiment's tactical recognition flash. A unit with a proud tradition dating back to the old 17th Lancers. The unofficial patch in the last photo explains the regimental amalgamations over the years. So ...................... the military skull insignia is still alive and well in this part of the world !!

I just picked up this bronze amulet for a Knight Templar, c. 1250. Looks familiar !! ;)

His catalogues looked a bit like this ..............................

Chip. I'm reliably informed that it's Weimar-era Forestry Service. I wonder why he has the sleeve TK ?? Needless to say, it all reminds me of this ........................

Interesting !! ......................... http://gmic.co.uk/topic/67613-what-uniform-is-this/#comment-630787

Many thanks. I hadn't thought of Forestry. The sleeve skull pattern reminds me of this black one, which has been the subject of heated debate in the past. The black one came with this group .....................

Thanks! Nothing written on the reverse, unfortunately.

White Star .........Black Star ......... White Skull ......... ??????? :)

The TK does not look like the regulation FW type. Similar, but not the same. Any ideas ?? Is this Freikorps-related ?? Or could it be Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst (FAD) ??