Mike Dwyer

Stogie, King Friedrich August III renounced the throne on 13 November 1918.

Chris, I agree there does seem to be a Luftwaffe look about it. Excuse my stupidity, but if this is for the 3rd Company, why is there a 2 on it? It that the regimental number?

Yeah, I see what you mean. Still very nice lions though!

So, Chris, did you forget about me?

I was thinking the same thing, Rick. In fact in several of those photos, he could pass as the Kaiser's brother, Prince Heinrich of Prussia! Maybe he was aware of that?

When I was in the Army and stationed in the Washington, DC area 1985-1990 I had the priviledge of accompanying a friend to visit Semper Paratus Lodge #49 in Washington, DC (which I just found out no longer exists, it was consolodated into Harmony Lodge #17 in 1998). The story I was told was that the lodge was founded in 1934 and a commandant of the US Coast Guard was involved in it's founding. Anyway, the connection to this thread is that the tyler used a Coast Guard officer's sword to guard the door. At the time I thought that was a very nice touch.

Claudio and Wild Card, While I found the grand collar of the Black Eagle very nice, my personal favorite was the grand collar of the Order of the Wendish Crown. Do either of you have any idea what that sold for?

Well, if I may ask, this is a photo postcard of Prince Heinrich's son, Prince Waldemar of Prussia. Is the uniform he's wearing a later uniform of the Automobile Club or is it something different?

The dagger. This does not look like the same type of dagger as originally posted by Flyingdutchman.

Well, I finally got my memory to working and I managed to scan the postcard I mentioned back on 30 December of Prince Heinrich of Prussia in the Automobile Club uniform with dagger. Due to the angle of the photo, you can't really see the dagger all that well. I've posted the full postcard here, next I'll post a closeup of the dagger.

WM5806, Thanks for the reply. I knew that UK Freemasonry was a bit more complicated and organized that US, but not much else. I'm sure you are aware that in the US we don't have a national Grand Lodge over all of the state lodges. In Georgia (and probably most other US states) we have Masonic Districts. For instance my home lodge, Mount Hermon 304, F & AM, is in the Fourth Masonic District of Georgia. We do not have a district lodge as such, there is no district master, etc., but each district has a District Deputy Grand Master who represent's the Georgia grand master within that district. There are also some other district functionaries too. The DDGM's jewel is gold and his apron is trimmed in gold also, but they are much plainer than those worn by Grand Lodge officers. I've truly enjoyed this topic area and some of the wonderful items displayed here.

That is the same past master's jewel that is still in use in the state of Georgia, USA. Most American lodges use another version that also has the square above the arc, but Georgia past masters are supposed to use one just like yours. Sometimes they're hard to find, so many past masters use the same as everyone else. Most Masonic jewelry dealers here in the USA stock past master's jewels in gold, but in Georgia only Grand Lodge officers use gold, lodge officer's jewels are supposed to be in silver.

That's very nice, Chris. Any chance we could see a better shot of that lion that's just behind it? (I have a thing for lions and eagles)

Mark, Thank you very much for your reply. I had always presumed the black hilt was probably a war-time attempt at camouflage!

Kaiser's cypher

Knuckle guard

I have a imprial German sword I inherited from my father. I don't know much about it, except it's a little different than any I've ever seen. It's shaped like a lot I've seen, but there is no gold-colored metal on the hilt, the entire hilt and scabbard are black. The only lighter colored metal is the wire on the grip and Kaiser Wilhelm II's cypher on the grip looks like brass. It has the Prussian eagle on the hinged, fold-down, knuckle guard. There are no maker's marks anywhere. The blade is rather rusty and there are some rusty patches where the paint has been chipped off the scabbard. The story my father (who is no longer living) told me, if I remember it correctly, was..........he was a US Army infantry first lieutenant in WW2. There was some small town, somewhere (he never told me where) that the Waffen SS had rolled into and put up barricades. The SS told the Volksturm commander to get out his old men and teenage boys and defend the town to the death! Then the SS left. As the US troops approached, the Volksturm commander had the barricades removed and as the troops entered the town my dad was the first US officer the commander spotted, so he surrendered the town, and his sword, to him. My dad accepted the sword and kept it. I apologize for my photographic technique (or lack thereof) and this particular digital camera doesn't seem to do closeups very well.

I'm not sure what is done in other countries, but here in the USA the Royal Arch, the Rose Croix (which is just one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite 4th through 33 degree) and even the Knights Templar do not "require" a member to be a Christian. But there are Christian characteristics to some of these degrees. I went through the Scottish Rite and the York Rite (which includes the Royal Arch, Royal & Select Masters, and the Knights Templars) with a member of my Blue Lodge who was Jewish.

Mark, Very nice set from the most beautiful of the German orders!

Thank you very much, Glenn.

Yes, you are a GOD! Just because I posted a couple of royal postcards on WAF and mentioned I collected royalty, nobility, and generals this new guy thought I could actually help him! After spending nearly 2 hours trying to read the writing and trying to find him on the only ranklist I own (1914) I decided to ask the experts. Thanks, Rick. I'll be sure to tell him I had nothing to do with this, other than I guessed the first word was "Graf".

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but since you all are IDing officers. On another forum a newer member asked me if I could help him ID this officer. I was shocked he'd believe I'd actually know enough to possibly be able to ID this guy. I can't read that German script worth a darn so I have no idea what his name is. I thought I saw "Graf" in there, but now I'm not sure. The photo comes from a scrapbook of the Berlin-Lichterfeld/Preussisches Offz. Akademie Any of you guys possibly be able to ID him?

I don't really think it's the Bolivian Order of Simon Bolivar either, the star isn't shaped quite right. I've looked at a bunch of orders, but I can't find anything that's shaped quite like this one.

It's kind of hard to see at that angle, but it almost looks like the Imperial Order of the Star of Honour of Ethiopia, founded by Emperor Menelik I sometime in 1884-1885, but it has too many points. Personally, I don't think it's shaped quite right for Villa Vicosa either.

Bob, I don't know. It was for sale on WAF and after no one snapped it up, I did!