Brian Wolfe

He wasn't big on writing and most of the cards simply had the name of one of his children on it along with their address. I guess in the case of this one the card says it all.

Yet another one.

This fellow had a son and a daughter back home but what is not evident by the "cards" is that his wife and him were not living together when he was called up for service. It is an interesting story that will have to be posted at another time.

As could be seen in the last example the spelling of "daddy" differs from what we use today. I'm not sure if it is a problem with the translation from one language to another or whether it was a spelling used during that time. I've found no evidence that it was ever spelled that way.

Another one.

Most of these from this collection have a card that fits in a pouch. As you can see from this example the card did not always "go" with the message in the lace work.

As promised here are the lace souvenirs from a rather l;age group of artifacts from a soldier from Kitchener, Ontario, who was KIA in December 1917. I hope you like them and if you have any please add them here. Regards Brian

Hi Rob, That would be interesting and I hope the members who have medals to the different Labour Corps will post theirs, thanks for suggesting it. Regards Brian

I have a few all from one source. The soldier sent them home in the mail while he was serving. He never made it home as he was KIA. This would indicate that the cottage industry was indeed well established during the war. I'll look them up and post them. Regards Brian

Not matter what area you collect there will always be those medals that you just have to dream of having. I can think of an India General Service Medal with the Waziristan 1925 clasp that tops my, "When I win the lottery" list. Regards Brian

Hi taquito22, I hope you will be bidding $10.00 less than I do. These are very expensive and there is one on eBay at the moment that, if I remember, is currently around $160.00 U.S. and the reserve had yet to be reached. If this is the one you are thinking about, good luck, I know it will be too rich for my blood. Regards Brian

Hello Everyone, I am responding to this post with the hope that reviving it will give others the opportunity to learn form it. This has been one of the most educational albeit short post sessions I've seen in a while. Well done Danny70 in a full explanation of the problems with this medal. Another member and I are quite interested in learning all we can about TR medals. I'm sure there are more than the two of us but the other member and I have been discussing TR medals through emails for a while now. Good stuff Danny. Also thank you to Herman as well for starting the post, though I wish the news had been better for you. Micha your sharp eyes noted the markings on the ring, thanks for pointing that out. You must be a lot younger than me as I didn't see it. Thanks to all for a very educational post. Regards Brian

Hello taquito, I believe your box is for the Boxer Rebellion Medal 1900-1901 Regards Brian

Hi Tom, I like you new arrivals to your home, all I ever get is in-laws. Regards Brian

Very nice helmet. Going by the mark it is Canadian. We used the broad arrow inside the "C" as ours, the British used the broad arrow alone. Since we were part of the British Empire at the time it is understandable that we would use the broad arrow as well but modified it with the "C". Thanks for posting the helmet. Regards Brian

Hello Everyone, I thought I'd show both of my crosses together here. The 1st Class "looks" a lot larger than the 2nd Class in the photo mainly due to the different depths of field caused by the 1st Class resting on its pin. The 1st Class is a bit larger though but not as much as it would appear in this image. Regards Brian

Hello trakkles, Very nice additions to your collection. To echo Magician, more photos would be most welcomed. Regards Brian

Hello Everyone, Funny, just when I thought that having both the 1st and 2nd class cross in my collection was all I would or could get along comes the membership with examples like the 2nd class with the clasp. The search continues. I do have a question. If the recipient of the 2nd and then a 1st class were to be awarded a subsequent 1st class cross what would the device look like, or is this just something that didn't exist? Regards Brian

Hello Pinpon, I think you have a talent for understatement. Nice? This grouping is GREAT. That''s me jumping up and down in excitement, ok, so I couldn't actually jump like that. Still what a great group. Thanks very much for the post. Quite enjoyable. Regards Brian

Hello Everyone, Thanks for all of the extra information. I have not been able to find out even a fraction of the information you've all provided. I hope this post will continue to gorw as I believe this to be and interesting and mostly ignored area of history, let alone in the field of collecting. Regards Brian

Here's the missing image.

This image is a closer view of the centre. I always thought that the centre of the EKI would have been thicker. I don't know why I thought that, but I did; until now. The centre is made from a piece of sheet metal that was stamped out. Even though this may be an odd item to add to a collection I think it shows a bit of the manufacturing process used in making the Iron Cross. I hope you liked my little bit of ugly, it does have its charm though. Regards Brian Oops, forgot to add the image.

Here is the reverse view of the pieces.

I would imagine that by now everyone knows that this is from the Zimmerman factory that was bombed. There are several different medals on the market at the moment from this source and there seems to be quite a few EKI pieces as well. I like that is shows the three pieces very well.

Hello Everyone, Here is a screw back 1914 EKI made by Zimmerman that I just purchased. I could not resist this specimen and as you look through the post I think (hope) you will see why. Yep, it's seen better days. Regards Brian