CRBeery

Next.

I will post all of them for you.

Tom, It reads Friedrich III German Kaiser 9th March 1888. The second bar I posted is also one of my babies. It is sitting on all four of the award documents for the medals!

I believe the precedence to be correct based on the following:

The little extra. This is one of the larger button hole groups I have seen.

The back. I like the old trapezoid bars.

Here is an old bar in my collection that has become one of my favorites. No enamal or rare awards.

The back side.

I have waited a couple of years to bring this little bar into my collection. My first with the 1870 battle clasps. I am happy!

The navy group is not named. The one ribbon bar struck me as odd. WW2 Victory/Unofficial WW1 medal (if I remember)/WW1 BWM. It is a Wolf Brown bar and I do not think it has been put together recently. It was odd enough to gamble $3 on. Let me know what you think. The top bar is British made from what I can tell.

After last week I went out looking again but I was not as successful. I have to quit for a while as I can tell the wife is getting close to the "New furniture" speech.

Here is the box at the bottom of that last photo. It has US medals and ribbon bars in it. There were even some of the reservist crosses in it from the front plate of picklehauben in it. All I am saying is that you can really get off track if you do not have a focus. Maybe someday I will find someone who wants to trade all of this for an Imperial German medal bar. More likely my wife will sell it at a garage sale when I am gone.

Before anyone gets too excited; the blood order is a fake I bought whitin my first month of collecting and it had a lifetime warranty. When I took it back the old guy had died! I guess he held up his side of the bargain. It was $50 mistake but I love the story and laugh when I find that piece laying somewhere. Here is a shelf in my bookcase - can you tell what I collect? I can't. :speechless:

For Tony and Chuck, Here is a box on the floor of the war room. Do any of you have a safe and compact way to store small items? I need to get a handle on this before it is too late!

There are many items that lead to more research and I like to learn about the items. The Purple Heart came in a box with no writing on it and it has these funny little numbers on the side that everyone likes. :speechless1:

Tony, G'day mate! You are right, I do have a lot of fun and I learn a lot by collecting this way. I do end up with some strange stuff but I try to stick to medals and associated items. I have a couple of small boxes of stuff that I have not sorted into the appropriate piles to be put away. I will post yesterdays finds in a little while on a new thread.

Here is the WW1 medal. Some guy had a bunch of old expensive lamps and this. He charged me $12! This is why I like to hunt stuff rather than paying top dollar from a military dealer. Good show Eric.

How many of these are there? This could be collection if I let it! :speechless:

I also bought a bunch of books. Between these and what I have bought at the store I should be good for a while.

Typically I HATE glassware as it takes up space that could be filled by militaria. My wife likes glass items. I actually crossed to the dark side to buy a piece. It is made to look like a WW2 Army hat. Pretty cool to display small stuff in.

This is the first sword I ever bought! It was tagged as an Imperial German NCO sword. I have just started to look into it but this one will be impossible for me to figure out. It seems this pattern was made from WW1 through early WW2 and only the sword knot (missing) can determine if it is officer or NCO. I would guess by condition that this is an early TR piece. It is a Herder. The blade is nice and the scabbard is a little rusty with no dents. The perfect wall hanger for me!

I have not been posting as I have had nothing significant to report. No new toys or ones bought from the forum so nothing new to you. I have not been out hunting for items for a while and thought it was about time. I think I did OK. No Generals ribbon bars but a bunch of stuff. I could have brought home a car load but I have to stay somewhat focused. I say focused in a very loose manner as you will see.

The blonde in the first picture looks a little like some pictures of my Grandma from that time of her life. Here is the man himself. Russell Bower. I really miss him - He was a great influence on my life.

More.

Here are some pictures from my Grandfathers album. He served in the AAF in Panama and the Galapagos. I hope that they do not offend as they are great examples from the era.