Luftmensch

I think then, like now, businessmen with deep pockets get away with a lot. But the missing plaque could mean one or a group of PLM winners presented him with this box. So no harm. Also, as PLM jeweller's copies go, this is not very good--the one-sided funeral cushion copies look more detailed than this to me. Tho' the stickpins are as nice as I've ever seen! It is possible someone sexed this up later. Would a collector put a PLM over the gorgeous engraving? I would love to restore the engraving of the PLM and get rid of the clunky insignia, but now there is a hole in the lid where the center of the cross attaches, and two more holes in the lid behind the top and bottom arms of the cross, with a little ball bearing that snaps into holes on the back of the arms to seat it. It is like the jeweller covered up the engraving but made sure the insignia could swivel and reveal his work, or half of it! Very odd.

Front panel, in vertical pairs of names from left to right... 37. Forstmann and 38. Moraht 39. ????? and 40. ????? 41. Hersing and 42. Rose 43. ???? and 44. Marschall 45. ???? and 46. Siess 47. Hartwig and 48. ???? 49. ???? and 50. ???? FYI I identified a few U-boat aces from two postcards someone sent me. They are from reunions of the last living PLM holders in 1966--at the baths in Wiesbaden--and 1967--at the thermal baths in Baden-Baden! Left panel, left to right: 51. ???? 52. ???? 53. ???? Right panel: 54. Lancelle 55. ????? 56. Seidel Maybe this is an Army panel?

7th Row... 25. Keller 26. Bäumer 27. Blume 28. Büchner 29. Rieper 30. Leonhardy 8th Row... 31. Berthold 32. Manfred Frhr. v. Richthofen 33. Boelcke 34. Lothar Frhr. Richthofen 35. J. Veltjens 9th Row... squeezed below Boelcke... 36. Frhr v Leffers ?

3rd Row... 11. Frhr. O. Boenigk 12. Könnecke 13. ??????? 14. Gotthard Sachsenberg 4th Row... 15. Ernst Udet 16. C Degelow 17. H Klein 18. Greim ? 5th Row... 19. Frhr von Pechmann 20. Laumann 6th Row... 21. Ed. Ritter von Schleich 22. Julius Buckler ? 23. Hans-Georg Horn 24. Brandenburg

Lid, top row, left to right... 1. Jacobs 2. Göring 3. Loerzer 4. Bolle 5. Köhl 2nd Row... 6. ????????? 7. Müller-Kahle 8. Bongartz 9. Homburg 10. Theo Osterkamp

Below is a cigarette box (10 1/2 inches x 5 1/2) that you may have seen recently on eBay. I finally worked a trade with the owner in the Netherlands. Engraved on it are a helluva lot of Blue Max winners for one mere mortal to have known all by himself--56 in total. 36 pilots. The Dutch connection (someone's grandfather got it in Holland after war's end in 1945) makes me think of Anthony Fokker. He would have courted all these celebrity pilots as he lobbied for aircraft contracts. Sadly a big plaque inside the lid is long gone... It is hallmarked... The previous owner said the fullsize cross was loose. I noticed it is affixed in a that it can be made to rotate around it's center, revealing a beautifully engraved PLM underneath. The stickpins also show traces of having been engraved underneath. I keep hearing the Geschaeftsleiter tell his jeweller after the beautiful engraving was done, "Was ist? I can't see it! Make it pop!! Put a real one there!" I will now start posting the names, which are in neat rows instead of all over the place. Most I have been able to identify from signed photos, but there are some I have put with question marks because I need confirmation. There are a few that I just can't figure out. There are 36 pilots on the lid, and on the sides and front panel another 20 names--mostly U-boat aces, which probably means this didn't belong to Fokker. The U-boat names I need the most help with. Thanks! Will start posting signatures shortly...

Just received this... http://wcn.pl/auctions/39/973 POLAND. Shares commemorative medal of Independence in Krakow in 1914., designed by Joseph Wolf struck in Vienna effort Książęco-Bishop's Committee in Krakow, Aw: Torso of the Virgin Mary with the Child and the inscription Queen CROWN POLISH IN YOU HOPE OUR MCMXIV, Rw: On a wreath of thorns and laurel view of Wawel Castle, at the top of the crown and eagle broke away the chains, brass 60.44 g, 41.5 x 64.2 mm, 271 R Strzałkowski

Crown from city seal.

Right! I was just tipped off it has something to do with Castle Wawel in Cracow...but what? and when?

The crown feels a little bit like a Bulgarian crown but is by no means a ringer. Any world travellers out there seen this castle before?

Can anyone ID this? Prinzen sized, unmarked...

Thank you both. Rgds

Don't know my Italian medals and would be grateful for any IDs. Also, what do the appurtenances mean?--that mini pilot's wing and the two stars?? Thanks in advance...

Thanks, Alex. The paint is PERFECT...but after that there are a lot of little differences to the pin, the lower loop, the Zep's nose, and even the hallmark is quite the same. Too bad. It's well made!

This belongs to an old friend who doesn't even own a computer, so I had to scan his polaroids! Those of us who have Messrs. Pandis, Baldes and Previtera's books know the typical early `20s Meybauer, I call it the "Zucchini" type with the Zeppelin's swollen front section! Also they are all plated. This one has some nice Meybauer features but others that are very different. Opinions? Is this Meybauer hallmark okay? Could the badges have changed style by the 30s? Could Meybauer have made some "luxus" 800 badges once put a lot of old soldiers back on the payroll? Ferg has a beautiful plated Meybauer Army of the conventional type that everybody looks for now. Maybe he'll post some pix here for comparison.

Militaria for dogs, I'm glad my wife doesn't read this forum. We'd be up to our ears in labs... On a more serious note, a large (nameless!) auction house in the UK has refused to take these on consignment and won't say why. The hint was dropped by someone else that there is rampant electroforming going on. Would someone tell me what the signs of this are? By the way, the provenance of these are... 1. 21st...ex-Walter Lamberts, sold at Wallis & Wallis Connoiseur Sale 2. 17th...Tom Romans (ex-17th) and valued by Graham Lay on Roadshow years ago at 2-3000 pounds (I have the DVD) So I'm baffled, but I suppose these could have been switched out at some point for nefarious purposes. But I'm starting to think british plates are a minefield more fraught than Nazi daggers!!! Next I will try Wallis & Wallis. Thanks for any tips on ID'ing electroforms.

This is the last of Luftmensch's Victoriana! I usually stick to WW1 aviation, but these looked nice so I took them in trade. I hear to my dismay that British helmets and plates have become somewhat of a snakepit with so many good fakes about. Do these pass muster? Thanks for any opinions. I'm told this is the "second pattern"? Of which none were made for ORs?

Will do, Mervyn. Thanks again!

Thanks for your kind words, Mervyn. I imfer from your answer the lace pattern and cap badge identify it as Inspector General, Royal Engineers. The record shows a publicized visit to Netley on Dec. 8, 1898, the same day the Queen visited, when he presented Sudan medals to Atbara and Omdurman veterans. He may have made less heralded visits since then. Would he have worn this cap as Field Marshal? and would he have left uncovered? I suppose he might also have sent Netley a regimental cap surplus to his needs as a memento. I still wonder why, with all of Kitchener's exalted titles, the maker of the sampler styled him "RE IG"? Was that his highest regimental rank and therefore in keeping with traditional naming and one's first (and last) association with the regiment above all others? Perhaps the Kitchener Army veterans at Netley had this, and his cap, in mind. Rgds John