landsknechte

Real as is "genuine historical object", or real as in "tangible object / not hallucination"?

As always Christophe, your ribbon bars leave me drooling. Perhaps I ought to drop the second "r" from my name. I think that's the source of my bad luck. --Chris

I've been spending my spare time recently lighting incense and chanting incoherently to the ranklist gods in hope that the White Falcon rolls will be published in my lifetime. That would probably lead to two easy IDs right there.

This is precisely the sort of resource I love to keep on tap. However, without any ranklists at my disposal, I don't really have a brush to comb with.

Definately not WW2 then? Does the SHAEF patch seem like a later add-on, or does it appear to be original to the shirt? Thanks, --Chris

Huh... You learn something every day. Cool. --Chris

Right now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something comes out of Rick looking through the names of the Naval personnel that you posted in that other thread. --Chris

The St. Stanislaus would have likely been one of the easier ones to come by in Germany, and the ribbon on this lapel bow certainly looks like a regular St. Stanislaus ribbon. I suspect that the two that look like the St. Anne ribbon are "make do" ribbons as well, probably Baden Long Service ribbons (although there are a few that are close enough in appearance). Notice how much wider the stripes are on those ribbons than the normal St. Anne ribbons.

Take a close look at the ribbon for the St. Vladimir - it looks rather homemade being cobbled together out of two pieces of ribbon. I suspect that there are a few of the ribbons on here that were called in to service as "close enogh" expediencies. That blue and white ribbon could be leftover Bavarian Landwehr miniature ribbon (as below) used to represent something else. --Chris

There were only a few combinations that would have been possible for buttonhole wear, but I seem to think that I have seen them used that way. A 1939 EK / Ostfront combination comes to mind. These combo ribbons were also used for the "roll" type lapel bows as well. --Chris

I have no idea if this style of lapel bow decoration is at all typical for Russians, but they were certainly common enough in Germany. Perhaps, given the improvisation on the St. Vladimir, this was made for a Russian ex-pat in Germany. Anyhow, my read on this is: 1. Order of St. Anne 2. Order of St. Stanislaus 3. Order of St. Vladimir 4. ? 5. ? Does anyone have any clue what #4 might be representing in the context of a Russian bar? --Chris

Download a freeware image viewer program like Irfanview and resize 'em. Inquiring minds want to know.

There's something vaguely British about the way that device looks, but that's a completely uneducated guess based purely on aesthetics.

I'm fairly certain that I've seen the 14IR commemorative loose somewhere before, but I don't believe I've ever seen it on a ribbon before. The Alfons thing is completely alien to me.

No stamps or tags on the interior of the shirt. No evidence of there being any other patches removed. I'm admittedly something of a neophyte when it comes to American militaria. Can anyone provide any insights as to the vintage of this shirt.

Some further construction details...

The patches check out with blacklight, and it's obvious that the SHAEF replaced some other patch.

Just picket this shirt up at a local thrift shop, one of two that they had for sale amongst their "Halloween costumes". The other had most of the buttons smashed, but was otherwise identical.

For a moment, I thought I had found the rare "flaming cocktail shaker" shoulderboard cypher of the Fallschirm-bartender-regt.

...it's not authentic, but what the heck is it???

Not one of mine, but I one I came across in my quest to track down obscure Bavarian Weimar-era things. #2 - is obviously a regimental commemorative. #3 - no idea..

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but for most people, pink explosive dinosaurs are a little bit out of the mainstream.

No problem. I didn't know if you had noticed or not, but take a close look at the ribbon bar. The two different ribbons are actually one single peice of ribbon woven to represent two different decorations. Not exactly rare, but fairly uncommon. --Chris

It has to be post-1934, since that's when that the Hindenburg Cross was created.

The medal bar (from left to right)... Prussian 1914 Iron Cross Bavarian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class Hindenburg Cross The lapel bows & the ribbon bar... Saxon Friedrich August Medal (the yellow one), most likely bronze Prussian 1914 Iron Cross