RNLSGC

To Brian and Nightbreak I truly appreciate both of your's knowledge and experience in this matter of collecting. I look forward to learning as I go and hope to call upon your experiences. Mark PS I am waiting on my next arrival with more to come.

Mike, I appreciate your educated insight. Mark

Thanks Ian

Follow Up: Any thoughts or concerns that this could be a Pakistani copy? Ways to tell? Mark

Brian I thank you very much and for correcting me as I thought it was a George IV. Beginners luck! Mark

Greetings, I hope this is the right place to post as it has been many moons since I have posted here. As the title states this is my first ever tipstave/truncheon and I would like honest opinions or thoughts from the Forum as to if it is a real mccoy? Some background is that it was purchased online (paid very little) but not before asking about some provenance. The seller stated that they had purchased it from an estate sale (New England area) because they thought it was interesting. The length is approximately 13 and 1/2 inches in length and there appears to be age to the painted areas (crackling). This is an new avenue for me as I was searching for a "new thing" to collect and I do have background in law enforcement (27+years of it). I thank those in advance and look forward to hearing back. Mark

Ben and Rob, Im a few years late on responding but I wanted to thank you for providing your thoughts and comments. Mark

Caz, I dont know why I dont receive notifications of responses but I apologize and thank you for the assistance. I am open for suggestions and directions as I have no experience in researching Russian awards/documents. Cheers, Mark

Guys, My apologies for not responding sooner but I didnt not receive any notification that anyone even posted a comment. I thank you for the feedback and I to thought the photos were of all the same person. I do think there are some simularities. Next question is: How easy is it to obtain the service records for Konstantinovich? Cost if they survive? Thanks Mark

Hello and thanks for looking at my posting. I am writing to see if the members of the Forum might be able to identify the following group that was all found together in a small box. I know the two medals are Victory over Germany and Combat Service. My question is: What is everything else and does it all belong together? Thanks so much Mark

TacHel and Paul Thanks for the compliments. Paul, thanks for the vote of confidence on it being original. I, like you, have not heard of them being faked like their counterparts. I know that it was very difficult to even identify the wings with there being so little information out there. Kind Regards Mark

This is outside my theme of collecting but couldn't pass it up. At the time I wasn't sure which country this represented but have since determined that it is Latvian. Anyone have any thoughts as to time frame and/or authenticity? They are approximately 2 and 1/4 inches across. Thanks for looking!

The following are photos of some of the insignia that I aquired some time ago and know nothing about. None the less they have a "neat factor"

Nice posts guys. Keep up the posts.

Just bumping this topic back up top to see what members collect or are interested in such. Mark

Scott, I appreciate the replies. PM sent as well

Here is my addition to the list. #3990 is what it looks like. Also, are these at all researchable?

Here are some more scans of the medals close up. Flight School Additionally I am in the progress of getting his records from St. Louis to see what else can be determined. Always open to suggestions as well. Mark

Chris thanks for the reply and yeah it is funny but I bet she didn't have to do it twice Mark

To all, The following pictures are of the latest addition to my very small U.S. collection. The research is still a work in progress but this is what I have so far. Birth: Jul. 22, 1921 Buckner Franklin County Illinois, USA Death: Jan. 15, 2009 Chicago Cook County Illinois, USA Stephen Smarsh was born in a small coal mining town named Buckner in Southern Illinois. His father was a coal miner, and was working to make enough money so he could take the family back to Europe. One day while Steve's father was away at work and his mother was outside doing laundry, Steve and his brother, Frank, started playing with fire. They lit small pieces of paper on fire then ran around the house with them. The fire had caught the house and the house started to burn. Steve's mother looked up and saw the smoke coming from the windows, she ran inside and grabbed the children. She ran into the street yelling "There's a fire!" She ran to the church across the street to ask the priest for help in getting some belongings from the house, for all their money was in a trunk in the house. The priest smashed a window in a just pulled the trunk out of the house. But it was the wrong trunk, instead it was full of linens; and the house burned down to the ground. The family rebuilt and stayed in America. His father was a coal miner and butcher in Buckner. Stephen had 8 siblings; Ignaty, Anna, Daniel, Rose, Eli, Barbara, Adam, and Frank. During the Great Depression, Stephen left Buckner and moved to Chicago and worked in the CCC's. He had just finished his work for the CCC's when WWII started. Stephen knew that he was of drafting age and might be drafted soon. So he went out and did some research and found out that it would take him 2 years to train in the Air Force. After training for a long time, he was sent to a B-17 base in Florida. In Florida Stephen was made head pilot of his bomber and crew. Stephen's co-pilot was Ed Travers, his navigator was George Beckberger, his bombardier was Don Lett, and his engineer was James C. Smith. They all trained together in Florida and then were sent to England several months later. When they arrived in England, they were given their first mission... to Berlin. Steve said "Of all the places! All three hundred guns shooting at you from Berlin." They made it out okay and made it safely back to England. After that mission they got better and better at what they did. But one time while on a mission over Germany they lost two engines after they were shot out, one on each side. After that happened Stephen gave out the command to dump everything over the side. When they got back to England, they got back forty minutes late. Everyone on their plane had promises that if something were to happen to Steve that in his footlocker he had his family's address and everything that belonged to him. He told me that he always told everyone that God was his co-pilot along with his other, Ed Travers. When Uncle Steve finished thirty-two missions he got back to the states. After his service, Stephen came back to the U.S. and worked on various bases as a flight instructor. Stephen married his beloved, Lillian Hrycyna, and had three children, grandfather of four. Photo of Smarsh Wings Sorties One of his B-17's

Scott Delayed in replying but thanks for your comments Mark

Ferdinand I thank you for taking the time to reply to my posting Mark

Afternoon, First let me say that I did check "Rick's" great posting on the military number range but didnt quite to my number? Can one ID the possible time frame and what is the possibility of research? Cost? The Number is 5831263 Thanks in advance

Hucks Yes he did but there seem to be a question as to the validity of both due to the use of an Americanized month and the mention of espionage on the others. So I was trying to gain more information. Sorry, I should have notated that

Thanks for the reply and I will work to get those scanned. Mark