Daniel Murphy

You guys are gonna pass on this? Thats the rare eastern front commemorative Windhund panzer badge. Good old uncle Adolf was going to award them in 1946, but then the eastern front and the western front merged and put the nix on it. Dan Murphy

Rick, With the foot pattern belt buckle and lion head sword, I would say he is an artilleryman. Dragoon swords were different with a basket hilt.

I have found a organization related to yachting which is called the Augsburger Segler-Clubs (ASC). Yours may be a dagger very similar to a navy dagger, but with some small changes may have been used by a yacht club. This is not unusal since the Imperial German Auto Club used a dagger similar to a naval one. Only some photos will tell which it is. Dan Murphy

You can say that again! Thank you for posting these,they are quite magnificent. One question though, on the third class the star is point up and on the first class the star is point down. Is this correct or has the center device come loose on the 1st Class? Dan Murphy

Great stuff gentlemen, keep it coming. All I have on the statute ribbon is a Royal Hohenzollern knight's cross with swords. The ribbon came on it and appeared to have been on it for some time, so I left it that way. I figure it is either obscenely rare or just wrong and bizarre. I just don't know which. Either way it doesn't really fit on this thread. Dan Murphy OK, I lied. I just found this.

I have been looking , but have been unable to find anything even similar. Perhaps it was just a small village and it ceased to exist in 1918. This happened quite often. For instance there were 9 towns around Verdun that were totally obliterated in 1916. They were never rebuilt. I would attempt to find a michelin map of the Pas de Calais area from pre WW1. I think that is your best bet for finding it. Dan Murphy

Dino, That is a beauty. Congrats. Dan Murphy

Nice German WW1 case. If it is naval it would have a crowned M on the base. Possibly for a long range railway gun or such. Just love trench art. Dan Murphy

Joel, That thing is built like a tank! I don't collect Fire related items, but, If I did that would be at the top of the list. Beautiful. Dan Murphy

Kjell, Beautiful mini's, Godets are found every so often, but Werner is downright rare. Congrats Dan Murphy

Mike, Some German states used a lighter color blue for their uniforms than Prussia. Also royalty would have been given a little more leeway and many may have had more distinctive uniforms made in an even lighter shade. Since I see no swords on any of the medals or Iron Crosses, I would assume these are prewar blue and not 1915 friedenrocks. As to the number of loops, most likely these men are not wearing everything to which they are entitled.

Andreas, Well? Come on, we expect your usual thoroughness. We want nice big photos of this one. Dan Murphy

Robert, You can't just leave us hanging like that. We need more photos of whatever you have of his. Did you get it from the family? Dan Murphy

Probably just not put back in the proper place after the sale. The main thing is that it was found. Dan Murphy

Like this one from an old glass plate negative. Between 1958 and 1959, this rare badge was stolen from West Berlin's Kunstgewerbemuseum. Dan Murphy

More Crown Ms, frame. Well boys and girls, this concludes our lesson on German precision and attention to detail for today.

More Crown Ms, sideplate. .

Underside of grips with serial number. Note the special cut out for the grip safety.

The modified safety showing where the old safety marking was milled out and serial #.

Serial # on the trigger.

Crown M on the other side.

Serial on the breechblock.

Underside of toggle assembly showing the forward toggle number.

Now we need to disassemble it to see the rest of the numbers and crown Ms. Here is the barrel and receiver numbers.

Close up of the handstamped new safety marking with the original white paint in the letters.