Kornel R.

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_02_2014/post-16230-0-83122300-1392231836.jpgHi Chris and Irish ! As always there are some yes and no , but I would say yes. One of ideas of collecting is to preserve , both an item and it's memory , history behind etc. we are then obligated to do something , where this "something" should only be as professional , harmful , in good taste and which is most important reversible ( ! ). As you both mentioned there is no harmful "patina" on zink objects , as you can see on any copper based alloy ... I'm always for YES if really needed , but not too much - it has to keep it's historical character . I do always preservation procedure to all my dog tags , only the way I do depends on their condition . If it is excellent to good condition I only cover them with thin film of candle paraffin ( or you can buy special micro crystal paraffin based stuff called cosmoloid 80h - highly professional agent or any micro waxes .) I heat the ID disc with hair dryer and I apply with q-tips boiling paraffin , immediately removing it from it's surface with paper towel . Dog tag should "suck" enough with it's micro pores / holes . If the "visibility" of the text isn't good enough , I contrast it ( very rarely ) with 0.3 mm soft ( any B class ) automatic pencil . If object is in bad - relic condition , then I neutralize it thru 2- 4 baths in distilled water ( boil for few minutes each time and change the water ) to eliminate any kind of salts causing inter crystal corrosion and ... as before ...protective film . best regards Kornel few tags of mine picture one and two - before and after all presented tags are after preservation ps. As you can see I'm not a big fan of cleaning to "death" , making them "new" etc.

Theodor , that's a very interesting picture . It's a shame to say , but living relatively so close ( I'm from Poland - ex. West Prussia ) and not knowing almost anything about Bulgarian Army and war on that theatre .. best regards

Hello Mervyn ! I would say something between $ 4000 and $ 7000 each ... friendly regards Kornel

my congratulations guys , you have such interesting boards and mostly sets .... Most of mine are just singles and not too spectacular . regards Kornel

my congratulations guys , you have such interesting boards and mostly sets .... Most of mine are just singles and not too spectacular . regards Kornel

Odulf I general I like ... don't like - I love old photographs since I can only remember it . I can watch them like hypnotized , it's like time traveling . I'll never forget when being a boy my grandma gave me couple of German WW I photos with her father and grand father ... I am not even able to express my happiness back then . best friendly regards Kornel ps. Odulf , please check out that thread , there are unbelievable photos from DrakeGoodmann collection - I'm impressed with some .... OMG !! http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/60386-germans-with-captured-weapons/

Odulf that's an incredible picture . my congratulations Kornel

Drake , I don't even know what to say .... fansupertastic !!!! Absolutely outstanding ! comparing with my photos is like ....a space ship to a bicycle ... my congratulations . Kornel

Chris , there are some of my photo collection . Kornel

.... Hi Chip ! somebody called you once a .... wizard on this or another forum, but I start to believe it wasn't a joke ... some people would even say , you still have German POW ( WW I of course ) in your basement .... best regards Kornel

Chip ,these are published by MM - Military Mode . you can check them online too - www.militarymodepublishing.com best regards Kornel ps. Joe I'm pretty sure you'll like it .

>>Any have the new "Feldzug" series from Baldwin? << I bought vol. 1 ( will buy the rest for sure ) and have to say ... yes, yes , yes !!! - that book is a good source of information. Of course excluding beautiful , sharp pictures there are for example nice analysis of different fabrics (showing closeouts of fabric's threads ) - used for helmet covers , uniforms ; some interesting pickelhaube ( especially ersatz ) and uniform "construction" and stamping details ... there is a lot of good , detail oriented information and if the rest of this very esthetic set is going to be as good as the first volume ( not even mention to be better ) I'll will not hesitate a second to buy all of them and recommend it to everybody . just my opinion best regards Kornel

Ed you have very impressive collection and very good ... very esthetic displayed. best regards Kornel ps. my items are parted between US and Europe , plus here in NY don't have a space , so most of the stuff is packed , boxed , hidden ...it's a torture .

No , no , no !! I love them too . Unfortunately I have only here one M 17 stick hand grenade packed somewhere and probably close to 10 "EGGS" ( in Europe ) which I emptied /deactivated as a kid . Beautiful collection Chris my congratulations Kornel

exactly as you said - they call it SEITENGEWEHRTASCHE or SEITENGEWEHRTRAGETASCHE regards Kornel

More and more interesting skulls !! thanks for sharing them . regards Kornel ps. Thank you nice words Kris

Hello Friends ! Unfortunately at the moment I'm only prepared for WW I family story only as I already made small contribution to the thread started by somebody else " close and far relatives during Great War " in another forum . that's the only picture I have on me in US , the most of my family pictures, some documents and memorabilia are in my parents house in Poland ... few more WW I and all WW II related . I'm not sure if I'll go this coming summer there , since my son was here short time ago . I'm able and willing to participate ,but WW II family history without any "attachments" may be totally uninteresting for you gents - please tell me what do you think about it . As I said I can make kind of contribution to WW I family stories , which I can document with few photographs I brought with me last time visiting my parents and my son ( these photos are not so spectacular as some from our collections , rather very regular , but as family ones ....) . best friendly regards Kornel

I'm definitely positive about it Kris ! best regards Kornel

I'm sorry Mervyn ,you're right . Please better erase what I said . regards Kornel 24/10 - not necessary Kornel - they were good comments. The point really was that we all have to remember the audience....... M

Thank you very much Robin ! best regards Kornel

.... and have lost the war best regards Kornel

There is picture of one from my photographs collection . regards Kornel

Hi ! this must be soldier of the 4th Field Artillery Guard Regiment from Potsdam . His collar insignia are invisible ... but I'm pretty sure best regards Kornel

By the way Peter , did you see a movie " Amazing Grace " and remember that moment when fistful of abolitionists was trying to pass over the abolition of slavery in England and didn't do at the first time ? One of the lords was explaining about murderous kind of work leading to death of thousands of children , women etc. on sugar cane plantations .... " - is it human , is that fair ? " Another one responded "Certainly not ! , but we need our sugar , we love our tea !" I'm against slavery and any violence , not using sugar either .... but if anybody ever ask me , the answer is - "Yes , wee need our sugar " , only because past and future of our culture and tradition is much more important to me then some overpopulated and extreme countries best regards Kornel ps. we shouldn't be so serious about - almost nothing is up to us

With all due respect Peter , but somebody has to boil the water ... back then and now - do you think we are any better now with our political correctness and hypocrisy on the other hand ... lowering our standards , favoring losers etc. in the name of humanity ( of course always somebody pays !! ) . That old world at least created and left something beautiful , some higher standards , universal values - not this multi-culti kitsch we have now , being almost servants within our own cultural circle ... blaming ourselves for everything .... this is auto destruction ... Somebody has to rule , and there is no chance everybody to be happy on this world , but if I have a choice I would rather give my had for the king or Kaiser then for what we have now ( never ) . As history teaches , we can't built anything better on the rubbles of destroyed old world and most of the time yesterday's victims are much more brutal tomorrow's butchers ... it's not my intention to insult anybody but if I did - my deep apologies best friendly regards Kornel ps. I know it's not the right time and place to have this never ending semi political discussions , all I wanted to is , that the world is NOT perfect , never was and never will be and we should .... not should , we HAVE to take care of our tradition and western world values instead of apologizing for everything happened in the past , because modern barbarians ( whoever they are ) will eat us alive pretty soon