Chip

Just a brief thought. I started collecting in the early 1960s, mostly gathering items from relatives and neighbors. Over my long collecting career, I have had only modest funds to spend. Here I am over forty years later, with my last kid in college and I still don't have much to spend. It used to be that a modest sum could get you a pretty nice item. Now, I am pretty much relagated to postcards (don't get me wrong, I love collecting photos). The point is, it is not only the new collectors that are being priced out or squeezed out of collecting. For years I just satisfied my interest by inspecting artifacts and keeping lists of manufacturers and dates. A cheap pasttime that allowed me to keep my interest going. To reiterate the point that Rick was making..one can continue to pursue the hobby by other means than money. If you have a deep abiding interest in the subject, you can research to your heart's content without spending a dime. Chip

Rosenberg, I know that there are plenty of fakes around and that they are getting better all the time, but your stein has struck me as being completely original. This field is not my specialty, but I have a few pieces in my collection and have seen many over the years and yours just has the attributes of a period piece. Good luck should you decide to sell. Best regards, Chip

Luftmench, Wow, I really like the dress sleeve rate. All of mine are in cloth. Never had a chance to get one with the pretty red enamel. Nice! Chip

Glenn, You say the honor of wearing the Garde Sch?tzen uniform was granted to him? Would he not have had the preogative to wear the uniform of any of his former units? Was there some sort of formal bestowing of the uniform? What was the process? Chip

I see the name Faller on your Baden document. It must have been a common name in Baden, as I have a grouping of papers (diary, Soldbuch, Milit?rpa?, Wehrpa?) to a Bertin Faller, who served in the Baden battalion of the 3.J?ger Rgt. Chip

Ralph, Any outstanding examples in your collection? I am still looking for one from the Hoch und Deuschmeister (4th) Infantry Regiment and the Edelwei? Division. Chip

Chris, The thing about my ribbon is that the two represented overlap, like they would if two ribbons were placed in a buttonhole. I suppose it could be used on a Spange, but it would not look quite right. Also, they are not the normal ribbon width for full size medal ribbon, but are rather smaller. Chip

Concerning the double ribbon woven as one, were these specifically made for the small ribbbon bars or could they also be used as buttonhole ribbons? Chip

Could we see the markings, buckles, any other distinctive features? Chip

I have not been watching for them, but I did see a post on another forum that showed the interior and the badge as well. Unfortunately, there are so many forums that I can't remember where I saw it. Chip

Tony, These helmets are coming out of Afganistan. They are real WWI German helmets that have had a new liner system installed and the holes on the side are for a modern badge, which apparently has been removed from all of these helmets. As you can see, quit a few of them are hitting the collecting market. Chip

"I'm just glad to be a Happy Time Traveller who got what I did when I did..." A big AMEN to that brother. Thank goodness that I started 40 years ago. Today, I am down to collecting postcards and a shoulder board here and there. I'm afraid to tell my kids what this stuff is worth today (I want to stick around a few more years!). Chip

Bob, When you find the correct medal and you have no further use for the REK, I will be happy to buy it from you. Chip

Not to shift the spotlight away from your T&T cross (which is very nice), but would that be the correct ribbon for the REK (Treu dem Regiment cross)? It is not one of the variations that I have seen for the ribbons that were worn with these crosses. Chip

You say that 200 Euro is a bargain. So, what is the standard value for a silver example with undamaged enamel? My notions of value must be way out of date. Chip

uman, What is it that is being faked? Photos? Chip

These pins surface regularly on e-bay, but they are highly collected by the Italians, who pay very hefty prices for them. The last one that I bought at a local militaria show for $12.00 was not of much interest to me, so I put it on ebay and it sold for nearly $70.00. That got my attention! Now, I wish I had bought them years ago when you could find them all day for $10.00 or less. Ah well..... Chip

Your 92 day story has given me new hope that my package of $500.00 worth of German shoulder straps will show up (18 months and counting). Chip

Guys, I have enjoyed looking at these. I especially like the Bosnian regimental and Rick's J?ger. My collection is small (thirty pieces or so), but fairly representative of the various types. As Rick says, there are thousands of designs. A friend of mine has a huge collection with somewhere around a thousand pieces. My belief had always been that these were originally made to sell to the public as a fund raisers. They became very popular with the troops as well, but I don't think, for the most part that they were specifically ordered and made for units to wear. I mean, you see quite a few of the Eisenbahnsicherung version and there could not have been that many troops that fell into that category. On the other hand, I have owned badges that were customized by taking a generic corps pin and soldering brass regimental numbers to it. My guess is that this was the exception. There are some books that cover the subject, but they just give samplings and are not comprehensive studies. I have seen a ton of these pins and don't recall ever having seen one that was painted green? Most of them are made of Kriegsmetall, brass or white metal and are occasionally enameled. When the Germans served with the Austrians there was some interest in these badges. The troops began to wear the Austrian corps badge (I have period photos). Later, several Bavarian divisions had their own pins created and it is well documented that they were worn during the war, though forbidden and unofficial. I have examples from the Bavarian 10th Div., 11.Div. and 8.Res.Div. They are pictured in J?rgen Kraus' book. Chip

Rick, Regarding the von Homeyers, is there any way of telling from their medals which one was in Palastine? Surely, he would have gotten an EH as well. Is there some way of finding out which field hospital was in Bet Hanun? Chip

Jens, I would love to have the uniform that that double button hole ribbon was attached to. What a beautiful thing that would have been! I find it interesting, though somewhat logical that the uniform was pitched, but the ribbons kept. This happened all to often. None of my field gray uniforms have button hole ribbons. Maybe it is because the majority of them are Bavarian and only lightly worn. Chip

And this is the fragile preliminary authorization certificate. It reads, "Dem Feldlazarett=Inspekor=Stellvertreter Fritz Lederer wurde am 24. Dezember 1916 im Namen S.M. des Sultans der Eisnere Halbmond verliehen. Bet Hanun, 4. Juli 1917 der Stabarzt, von Homeyer Stabsarzt. The ink stamp reads, "Feldlazarett Nr.?" Unfortunately, it is too faint to read the field hospital number. If anyone can provide additional information on this Beamte or anything else related to this time or place, I would be very interested to know. Chip PS Sorry, no matter what I do I cannot get this picture to load without drawing it down to the size of a postage stamp! Bummer. Chip - I have added the image for you. Gordon

This is mine, along with the stick pin. The badge is marked "938" on the back. I apologize for the quality of the scan. Chip

Joe, It's not like anything from WWI that I have seen. Chip

Les, I was very interested to see your Garde trench helmet. I have three of them myself, which I got back in the late 1970s, before it became generally known that these were not Weimar markings. Of particular interest is that one of my helmets is painted in a fashion very similar to yours, in that the first shield was painted over the original paint finish and the second shield slightly offset over the first. I think that the original shields were done some time in the spring of 1918. Later in the summer the orders came down for helmets to be camouflaged. When this was done, both the shield and the rear number(s) were repainted. The original numbers were painted in dark red. The second paint color for the numbers tended to be white, as the red numbers were hard to see from a distance. Like your helmet, you can easily see where the original shield and number were on mine. You did not mention it, but it does look like your helmet has also had two numbers painted on the back. All three of my helmets were made by "Bell L", which I think must have been the original issue to the Garde division. All of mine have company numbers, but I have seen original examples without any number, which I attribute to non-infantry units. There was an article published in the "Zeitschrift f?r Heereskunde" back in the 1980's, which showed an example marked inside the rear skirt to the 1.Garde Feldartillerie and it had no number on the back. I would be interested to know which manufacturer made your helmet and which U.S. division the soldier, who brought it back was from. Thanks for sharing this unique grouping. Chip