Chip

Eduardo,

It is hard to see the small print, but it seems to be saying that they are rebuilding a destroyed bridge.

Just a bunch of Noobs bidding, who don't know what anything is worth or what a quality piece is. Very dangerous!

Chip

Chris,

That is not one of the common patterns. Very nice. Did the sheath come with it?

Chip

Here is an ink marking (B.A.W.) on a navy issue gray canvas puttee. Not the best stamping, but I think you can make it out.

Chip

Hi Guys,

B.A.K. = Bekleidungsamt Kiel

Navy issue mark. Also, B.A.W. = Bekleidungsamt Wilhelmshaven

Chip

Eduardo,

Dave was right on with his evaluation. Definitely a field artilleryman.

Chip

Eduardo,

The photo is too small to get any details of the uniform for a possible identification. A close-up of the rider from the chest up would be most helpful. Either that is a very large man or a very small horse!

I have not had the time to scan everything for this thread yet, but here are some nice Litzen that I wouldn't mind having! Pre-March 1916 Bavarian general's examples. Silver wire on a red background.

Chip

Mike,

That plate from the Kaiser's Bunker website is from a 1900 publication. There are many things missing that would have been around in WWI and also a few are shown that were gone by WWI. A wartime cypher listing would be nice thing to have on that website. It would give the full picture of imperial cyphered shoulder straps when added to the one you looked at.

Chip

Eduardo,

This man is wearing the M1908 enlisted man's visored cap. These were more commonly seen being worn by support personnel, like medical, Train, pioneers, etc.. If that is a Iron Cross second class ribbon for non-combatants, he might well be a Krankentr?ger. I have seen two issued visored caps for these stretcher bearers. The collar does look like it might be a tailored conversion, which was often done when a soldier became an NCO. That lace around the collar (without collar disks) indicates the of the rank of Unteroffizier. To my eyes, the buckle appears to be a Prussian one.

Chip

Jason,

Somewhere, I have a black and white photo of the A7V that we had here in the States. It was on display (outside in a field) at Aberdeen before it was finally scrapped. Very short sighted on someones part! Someone in Australia is a bit more historically savvy. You are lucky to have it and to have kept it in relatively good shape for all of these years.

Chip

Mike and Eduardo.

No, it's not the 110th. This crown is the very distinctive crown of Infantry Regiment Margraf Ludwig Wilhelm (3.Badisches) Nr.111 garrisoned at Rastatt. The cypher is "LW". I have added a picture of a M1915 example as would have been worn on this pattern tunic by an enlisted man. In this case, however, seeing that this picture was taken in Germany and judging from the very light color of the strap, my guess is that this might be a Friedens shoulderstrap. This M1915 dress strap normally would not have been worn on the field tunic. It was white with a red crown and cypher.

Chip

Paddy,

Is that an Austrian tunic? The collar and the buttons don't look like German military types. Would you show the whole tunic? My guess would be that a badge with a horizontal pin would have been worn on that lower set of loops.

Chip

Eduardo,

I can see from your enlargement that this soldier was from one of the cyphered regiments, that is, one of the regiments that wore the royal cypher of the honorary commander of the unit. These straps had a crown under which was the stylized initials of the ruler. If you could enlarge this picture to 3" X 3" I could probably tell you which regiment it was.

Chip

Jens,

There is a picture of one on page 147 in Volume I of Johan Somer's book. Unfortunately, there is no text with any information about it.

Chip

Eduardo,

The setting for the photo is a studio with a painted backdrop, though quite a nice one. The soldier does not appear to be wearing any shoulder straps. The M07/10 uniform was made up until it was replaced in the spring of 1915 by a simplified version.

Eduardo,

None of these men is an officer. The unit of the sitting man might be the 30.Landsturm Batl. of the XIV Armee Korps (Baden). If you can make a close-up picture of the man on the right's shoulder strap, I might be able to tell you more. The light colored shoulder straps and very dark cap bands could be something else. A good shot of a shoulder strap would clear up the questions.

Chip

Actually, Tom's Zeltbahnzuh?rbeutel is missing one important thing, the guy rope. Each bag should contain one, but they are almost always missing (must have come in handy for other uses). You would have a lot of trouble putting up a shelter without one.

Gottschalk & Co. A.G. made all kinds of canvas items for the imperial army. In addition to tent pole bags, they also made breadbags, wirecutter carriers, Tr?nkeimer (collapsible canvas water bags), and no doubt all sorts of other things.

Chip

Rick,

Although meant to look subdued or "Feldgrau", the gray finish is more like a matt chemical treatment. You are right, of course, concerning the metal colors. I have a silver frosted balloon insignia, which I knew was an NCO. Got it backwards.

Chip

Rick,

You made mention of the gold vs silver color meaning. Most of these cap and collar badges seem to have come in both colors. I thought that the officer's wore the silver and the enlisted men the gold, as it was done in the air service. Pilots wore silver collar balloons and enlisted men wore gilt.

Here are my examples.

Chip

Robert,

Elisabeth was Prussian royalty and the Garde Grenadier regiments were all Prussian.

Chip

Robert,

Ostfriesische Inf.Rgt.Nr.78. Osnabr?ck. My wife's grandfather was in this regiment (1903-1905) and I collect things from it. I have a number of items that are similar to this, though mine are probably more veteran's pieces. I would think that this would have been privately purchased rather than issued or given out. The era would be 1890s through 1914.

Chip

Here is a comparison of the M15 Eisenbahn and the M15 Garde Grenadier Rgt.Nr.3.

Chip

Robert,

K?nigin Elisabeth Garde Grenadier Rgt. Nr.3. Eisenbahner had an "E" with regimental number underneath. The Bavarian regiment had no unit number. No crowns for the Eisenbahn straps. Here are examples of Eisenbahn enlisted man's shoulder straps as worn on the Bluse. Shown are three of the four Prussian regiments and the Bavarian example (without number).

Chip

Douglas Jr.

Everything looks fine to me as well. Just wondering. however, why the liner retaining brads are not through the hole on the inside?

Chip