Daniel Murphy

Reverse. The paper is not a packet but just one sheet of paper wrapped around to keep them from banging together after being put into a box of 50. The great thing about something like this, is that for a minimal amount of money (except for the rarer ones)a collector can put together a very nice collection.

Last, but not least, Is my unissued late war feldgrau M14 in the original wrapping.

Reverse. Even under the rust you can see the dark blued finish.

Here is the only blued finish M14 I have ever seen. The finish is original to the buckle.

Here is a close up of the maker mark.

Reverse.

Here is one in gray paint (which appears to be earlier than the green) that has a maker marked tab. There are two shades of gray showing, one is most likely a primer. My MG08 Sled has identical paint including the primer.

Reverse. No magnet required. The prongs have the later sheet metal sleeve holding them.

This is a private purchase M14 for a NCO or One Year Volunteer. The buckle and roundel are steel in two pieces. The frame was nickel plated then gold plated. You can see the gold wearing revealing the nickel plate. The roundel is just silver plated steel. When new you would never been able to tell it was steel unless you used a magnet. 90 years on it is a little easier.

Reverse. Note the construction is like a M95 but in steel c. 1915.

Since this is the earliest piece I will start of with it. This is a Prussian Telegraphers belt buckle. It has quite a bit of the original gray finish. Dan

Reverse. The stamped out catch not only eliminated a stage or two in the production, but also reinforced the roundel and prevented it from getting smashed in.

Here is an early wartime made M95. On these the roundel was either plated (and wore off) or left plain brass. Nickel was desperately needed for the making of armor steel as was used in artillery pieces etc. Later in the war for the steel helmets and bullet proof shields.

Reverse. Notice how far apart the solder holes are compared to the last two. There is a faint maker on the tab, but it is too weak to see.

Here is a M95 with the tab. Just a little more beat up.

....except for the fact that the roundel has not a single dent and it is not reinforced. In addition the owner has scratched his initials on the back.

Next up is another basic M95....

Reverse. Note the difference in color of the high copper content tomback versus the brass (messing) of the bar and pin assembly.

Here are some model 1895 Prussian Buckles from my collection. First up is a Tombak M95 made from 1895 to 1897 ONLY. It has the Christian cross with rays on the crown. During 1897 this was changed to an Iron Cross. Notice the small roundel. Dan

Kevin, I think these were named "hate" belts by the US doughboys. Basically the idea was you hated the enemy so much that when you killed one or took him prisoner, you would cut off a souvenir button and keep it. I have read first hand accounts of German Prisoners being captured by Brits and the men pulling out their jackknives and cutting off the buttons before they sent him back to the POW camp. It was kind of a reminder that there was one more "good German" in the graveyard or the POW cage. It was just a nickname, like referring to a bomber flying overhead and dropping the "evening hate". Most of the items on these were just picked up wherever, prisoners, enemy dead, etc. I have seen belts brought home by doughboys which had US horse Bridle rosettes, US buttons and collar disks etc. I saw one that was all WW1 french coins (with the hole in the center) that were rivetted to the belt through the holes. I have also seen British made ones that had nothing but British cap badges, collar badges and shoulder titles. So yes they did souvenir their own countries items. Naturally it was next to impossible to wear equipment on a belt like this. It would have been a souvenired belt and buckle found on the battlefield, to which you attached your trophys as it were. Mainly the reason that I believe it is German put together is there are Russian buttons here that could only have been acquired on the Eastern Front. True, a US soldier fighting in Russia could have found them, but most of the US soldiers that served in Russia c. 1918-1919, had not fought in France or Belgium. Therefore only a German soldier that fought on both fronts would have been able to assemble the selection of buttons etc. on this belt. BTW it is my understanding these were being made by the Fench and Germans before the doughboys went "Over there". They picked up the habit from them. Dan

Dan, My apologies. I did not know everything in the box was identifiable as WW1, that is why I stated maybe WW2. The fact is if it was made in Metz, say for the sake of arguement, pre '45. It would have had to be made 1914-1919 or 1940-1945. I do not see much of a need for a WW1 pilot (who by 1940 would most likely be of staff officer rank or higher) to have a need for something like this during WW2. In addition the majority would be wearing the retired pilots badge as did Goering in the 30's. Then figure the number who were still in the army (and not the luftwaffe) and needed the field gray backer and I would say the need for this between '40-'45 would amount to maybe one man or about .005 % of men who were WW1 pilots. As far as photographic evidence goes, this would be great. However I have never seen a WW1 photo of someone wearing a bullion EK1, but a very few real ones exist. Basically, with these you have to look at the things I stated above and make a judgement call or use your gut instinct. We know for a fact that they had bullion EK1s and pilot badges in WW2. Mostly used by Luftwaffe flight and paratroop personel. We have the photographic evidence. But, as far as originality goes, you still have to make that judgement call. "Do I like this enough to pay $XXX for it?" is often what it boils down to. You can post something like this and have half the people say its real and the other half say it's not. I posted a WW2 gold grade snipers badge here some time back that i have had for over 20 years. To my knowledge not one person replied to that post. I don't know about you, but that is an indication to me that it is not a fake. If anyone thought it was fake, they would have blasted it. Over 100 people looked at it, likely thought "Damn, that looks good, but i'm really not 100% sure" and made no comment. The same thing is going on here, have you noticed. As far as this thread is concerned, it would seem we are the only ones here. Dan

Beautiful! I have seen a page from a Godet Catalog that looks just like that. Nice array of variant mounts. Glad to see the little enameled button hole piece upper left. I thought I was the only one who had some. Dan

The reverse. It is made like a 1895 with steel and zinc substituted for tombak and neusilber. I would say c. late 1914-1915. Dan Murphy

OK, so the buckle needed a little help. This is much better.

Close up of the buckle. It is an early steel buckle with a zinc roundel.