larsb001

... to those interested, this grouping have now been offered for sale in the "Best Offer" section. Regards, Lars

And fortunately the is available information about the L4 – and L3 which fates are closely linked. L 4 was stationed at Fuhlsbüttel outside Tønder and has an interesting story. It was the Imperial Navy's 4th Airship but as L1 and L2 crashed in 1913 it was the second to see action in WW 1. Together with L3 it was the first Airship to bomb England. On it's last mission L 3 departed from Fuhlsbüttel together with L 4 on February 17 1915 to do surveillance off the Norwegian coast. Due to hard weather the L3 crashed on the beach of the Danish island Fanoe. L 4 had a similar fate on this day; it suffered from lack of fuel and had to land north of Blaavandshuk in the western part of Denmark. When the L 4 hit the beach 11 of the crew jumped off but relieved from this weight the Airship took off again and disappeared with the remaining 4 crew members. L 4 was never found. The crew from L 3 and the 11 surviving crewmembers from L 4 were detained in the town of Odense for the rest of the war. Or was they? (Picture copied from the below mentioned museums homepage without permission, but I'd placed a little promotion instead!!) It appears that one of the officers from L 4, lt. Lt. z. S. Kruse, became officer on Zeppelin L 60 from 01 April 1918 to 19 July 1918. So maybe the detention didn't lasted throughout the war, and maybe Karl Ruskowski rejoined as well? It is obvious that Karl Ruskowski was entitled to the Naval Airship badge (the document is Navy stamped and signed) and it is a given fact that he had the Army version. Could it be that he returned to active service in 1918 and could it be that he was transferred to an Army unit and thus later on purchased the Army version? I don't know if this could have happened but maybe someone here knows? Or could the explanation for the Army badge be that someone bought the wrong badge for his as a gift or could he mistakenly have bought the wrong badge himself? This is one mystery that I assume will never be solved! What else do I know. It appears that Karl Ruskowski meet the girl that later became his wife during his detention in Odense and thus the Danish connection. Apart from this I hope that someone here can supply other information on this man? Any information will be appreciated. ******** The town of Tønder is situated in the southern part of Denmark. After the war of 1864 that part was lost to Germany and thus the Airship base was German land during WW 1. In 1920 there were an election and a part of the land that was lost in 1864 returned to Denmark. Today Tønder is Danish and last year a museum was opened on the old base. Much more information can be found on their homepage in both Danish, German and English. Have a look and pay them a visit if you're in that area one day. http://www.zeppelin-museum.dk

Fortunately the award document for the Hamburg Cross is present and from that I got the information, that he had been on board the Marine Airship L4. The document have been folded many times and is not in the best condition, but perfectly readable.

It also consists of his full size medal bar with no exceptionel awards, a EK II, 1914, a Hamburg cross and a LS cross and a smaller medal bar which also contains the ribbon for the 1914-18 cross.

And it comes with the related document to "Obersignalmaat Ruskowski".

Hello All. I have recently bought this group. It comes directly from a private family and have not been on the market before. This is not really my area of collecting but sometimes I see something that I really like. I may sell it later on but right now I'm quite excited with this. It consists of of fine example of the "Erinnerungsabzeichen für die Besatzungen von Heeres- und Marine-Luftschiffen". Obverse .. and reverse. I cannot find any markings ..

Hello Don, just found this picture in my archive. It appeared on a local internet auction appr. a year ago and I kept the pic. The quality cannot be better as this is the original picture. Just for your amusement! Wonder how many different there is? Regards, Lars

Good morning Don. It was really interesting to see your 3 variants, beautiful pieces. I don't really collect 3 Reich, but I pick up the different organization pins and related items like these when I see them at reasonnable prices. When looking at your 2 different Gustloff I assume your therory about souvenir pins sold to the tourists on the KdF Cruise ships makes sense. They are obviously made by the same company so when I get the time I'll try to play a little with a camera to try to get the maker. Cheers, Lars

Hello Don, sorry for the late reply. Here's the reverse as requested. Do you have any info about the use of these? Cheers, Lars

Hello, just wanted to show a recent purchase which I believe is a Navy support badge of excellent workmanship, 22 mm. Maker marked under the needle, but unreadable to me. Enjoy!

Hello Peter, sorry for the late reply, I was away for a few days. You're right, the rings on the one I have is added, here's the requested pic:

Hello Leon. I am not so sure about this group. I don't say it's original but it could be. Having collected miniatures for 30 years I have learned that anything can happen when it comes to miniatures. Regarding your Olympic I would say it's original, it seems to be identical to one in my collection and in a friends collection - both are proven originals. Of course I haven't had yours in my hand. Btw, the second just mentioned Olympic is interesting, it was worn by a dane who got the German Eagle, but for some reason he wore the Olympic instead - which he never got. Maybe he was given the wrong miniature when he bought it, maybe the Eagle was sold out, maybe ..? Not everything makes sense! Regarding your group there could be a logical explanation for the British mounting, maybe this guy moved to England in 1938 and got his miniatures remounted, either because he liked the British way of mounting these things more, maybe bacause he wanted to adhere to the "local" tradition, ...? From the pics the ribbons seems original, the medals seems original, the grouping could make sense, it's mounted in a profesional and distinct way, what about the sewings, does the treads shine under black light? Why bother to create such a group to fake others, it wouldn't really improve the value compared to selling the miniatures as singles? Just some thought, it could be a fake, but it could just as well be contemporary. Lars

... reverse!

Hello Dieter3. You're probably thinking about this group that were on eBay appr 2 years ago. I kept the pic as I liked the group - I was outbid! Regards, Lars

Hi Mike & SPM. I was looking a little closer at previous posts and found a topic that were posted allmost 3 years ago by Ferg1 who showed a full size badge: http://gmic.co.uk/in...=1&#entry275235 Ferg1 at that time gave the following explanation: Quote: "it has the title of Erinnerungszeichen fur offiziere und mannschaften die nicht unter die mobilmachung fallen, in other words ,as far as I understand, it was given to indviduals who had trained and attained pilot status prior to August 1914 but were required to return to their army unit/duties at the time of mobilization. Apparently very few were given out and the bestowel is somewhat obscure/vague. D. Chaliffs book (for what it is worth) mentions that the details regarding the badges issuing appeared in a 1914 edition of the ' Armeeverordnungsblatt ' ." It could be interesting if anyone had a copy of the 1914 Armeeverordnungsblatt to verify this - were there pics in that thing? Mystery seems solved to a certain extent! Lars

Hello All. Here is a miniature stickpin of what I believe must be a Bavarian Pilots badge. Or is it actually something completely else? I have been through alot of threads here but haven't really found a match. The badge is marked "Silber 950 L`Lerch München" on the reverse. Any help is appreciated. Lars

Hi PK. Of course you knew, just notished you listed it under "France". I'd rather show you another French type which I keep in my collection, enjoy! Regards, Lars

Someone really liked this miniature and wore it alot. Congratulations! Did you notice it's the French type (pure anarchy, many odd variations) which differs alot in the suspension from the British type?

Uwe, of course you're right, sometimes you see what you want to see. So I believe my previous post was a little - sorry!

I believe this thread once again proves that knowledge is everything. I just scanned this miniature group as I wanted to sell it. I have for many years wondered why on earth someone would mount a KO3 in a group where it obvious didn't belong as the ribbon in no way would resemble the correct one. But with this knowledge and now knowing that only 105 of these were awarded I think I'll keep it

Hello Tsarenko. Thanks for the additional info, it was interesting to see how the suspension indicates the duty for which it is awarded. Not that I could translate everything, but I got the idea! Lars

Hello. I couldn't get into the German Forum but I can confirm it's the Hawaiian Royal Order of Kalakaua I. You can also read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia....der_of_Kalakaua As I collect miniatures only I can only show you such one, the Crown is not completely correct, but as these miniatures seems to be quite rare I can live with that. Rgds, Lars

Hello. Interesting to see. Is this one of the newly introduced Lithuanian Orders (of which I have no knowledge)? If so, please provide some background. If you have others of these more modern miniatures it would be interesting to see as a reference as I have only some of the older (1918-40) period items. Regards, Lars

Hi Iver. I can show you some of the types I have for comparison. Seems there were many different manufacturers with slightly different designs and ways of doing the wreath. I also included two variations of the 1923 type where they kept the WD - although at that time they made a different design, and of course it wasn't anymore a WD. I allways wondered why they kept the wreath which was a WD a few years before. Cheers, Lars