VtwinVince

All I had was a photo of his WW 2 shoulder board, with one pip on the braid, medical insignia and pink piping. Not alot to go on, I realize.

Hi Rick,

Agreed, he has a ridiculously common name, which is unfortunate. I'm only in possession of his EK 1, as apparently his other awards are scattered to the winds. Looks like he was an Unteroffizier in the first war, possibly a Sanitaeter. All this information comes second hand from the seller, so pretty sketchy.

Gentlemen,

Thanks to another member, Mike K, I have obtained a couple of EK 1's belonging to a medical officer named Wilhelm Beck. His shoulder board indicates a rank of Oberstleutnant (or medical equivalent) and these are the decorations he won:

1914 EK 2

1914 EK 1

Mecklenburg-Schwerin Friedrich Franz Cross 2nd Class

Bremen Hansa Cross

Turkish Iron Halfmoon

Turkish Medjidie Medal (?)

Honor Cross for Combatants

1939 War Merit Cross 2nd Class without Swords

1927 Stahlhelm Membership Badge

Looks like he was also entitled to something Austrian, and as well probably the Austrian and Hungarian WW 1 medals. If anyone can assist with more details on the career of this officer, it would be very welcome.

Speaking of distasteful, I think it was the French who pulled down the huge equestrian statue of Wilhelm I which stood at the "Deutsches Eck" at Koblenz.

Hmmm, interesting. I just picked up one of these on the Crown Order ribbon.

Martin, I'm in Victoria visiting family often, what antique store did you find it at?

Really great card. Weddigen sank three cruisers in the North Sea in one day in September, 1914, for which the entire crew was decorated. I've always been interested in him, since his nephew was my family's lawyer for many years.

This looks like the Rettungsmedaille Spange that was offered on the last DNW auction, which I was outbid on. A really nice bar and congratulations on the aquisition.

LOL, Les, when I visited my uncle in Germany in the 1970's, he was using his Ehrenbecher as a pencil holder, and it was starting to rust pretty bad. When I got it I gave it a light cleaning to remove the rust, and it looks pretty nice now for a steel version.

Great goblet, much nicer than my "Scheissmetall", but attributed, one. If anyone has a copy of the article that GMU mentioned, I'd love to see it.

Gentlemen,

Did anyone have luck at the last auction? I found the group of Hauptmann Heine particularly interesting. I picked up a couple of items, but nothing too spectacular.

I've had a couple of identical ones to these. Sort of similar to the Lusitania medal with the skeleton on it.

Sounds interesting, but what's DNW?

Hey Komtur, eine richtig tolle Spange.

The quality of the enamel work does not look up to snuff, either.

Gentlemen,

I recently acquired a spange from a member (thanks, Heiko) with an EK2 with two unofficial battle clasps. Does anyone know how many different ones were produced, and the comparative rarity of these?

Nice looking badge and a match for a cased one I used to have.

Thanks for your thoughts, SPM, you raise some interesting points.

Gentlemen,

Just wanted your thoughts on the Guido Lancelle group being offered by Weitze.

Of course Mackensen boasted that in old age he could still fit into his subaltern's uniform. He is my favorite Imperial field marshal. I have a couple of original photos of him inspecting units of the Kriegsmarine in the 1930's. I wonder what happened to his decorations.

Great photos and history. Reminds me alot of my family connection, both to Koenigsberg and to the 5. Garde Regiment zu Fuss.

Dave, thanks for that interesting info on the St. Henry Medal. Any idea how many silver ones were awarded in WW1? I just got in a nice spange with one on it.

In German that's what we would call a real "Weihnachtsbaum".

Really nice Weimar grouping, which I saw you post on the "other forum".

I believe there is a Bluecherstern currently up for grabs on Weitze's site.....