Daniel Murphy

Imperial Army Cut out, magnetic painted.

Heiko, I am truly sorry for this to have happened to you. I will keep my eye out as well. Hopefully the B*stards will be caught and all recovered. Dan

Imperial Army, prinzengrosse 28mm X 24mm.

Imperial Naval, non-magnetic design variant (the blob of solder on the lower right does not appear to be a repair, perhaps some sort of spatter that occured from a shipboard? repair)

Imperial Naval, non-magnetic.

Imperial Army, double screwback non-magnetic.

Imperial Army, .800 silver.

Imperial Army, non-magnetic.

Imperial Army, Prinzengrosse 28mm X 24mm.

Imperial Army cut out, plated non-magnetic.

Imperial Army, non-magnetic.

Imperial Army, non-magnetic in Kriegsmetall (fine zinc).

Imperial Army, prinzengrosse 28mm X 24mm.

Imperial Army, non-magnetic painted.

Imperial Army, painted kriegsmetall.

Imperial Army, Cut-out magnetic screwback

Imperial Army, magnetic screwback.

Imperial Army, magnetic.

Yes, this looks like a General rank to me. That is definitely a beauty, look at the fineness of that wool. I have always loved the Austrian "Horizon Bleu", I have a uniform like this of a Oberstleutnant. I would say the French troops fighting in Macedonia precipitated the end of Pike Grey. If the Austrians were fighting the French, it would have been hard to tell the players without a scorecard. Dan

Chris, Hmm... Knowing your love of southern African related items and the supposed rarity of what you have found, it must be a document for a Hildegard Cross from German South-West Africa. Dan

I would say 1860's-70's Bavarian. It does look like the badge of mad King Ludwigs cypher as on their raupenhelm of the period. Dan

Tom, Your first one from the last post is a Prussian Beamten button. Dan

Then how about the first German submachinegun, the MP18 I? The first use of these was in the hands of German stormtroopers during Kaiserschlacht. And one very sexy piece of hardware. This one is mine and of course live.

Yup, That looks just like mine. I have the stuff to go in it but the original insert is gone. Dan

Chris, Here is a better photo. I do not believe these were used for carrying water for the MGs, mainly they were used for carrying soup and potable water to the troops in the front line. I do know that when a 08 Maxim crew went to the front lines they carried 12,000 rounds of ammo, 15 belts in cans. They would also have a number of the water cans (either 1908 round or 1915 type) for the gun. The water jacket had to be refilled after every 1000 rounds. The cans were non recycling and the water had to be poured back into the water jacket from the spout on the water can. The end of the steam hose would be placed into some water that was left in the can. As the steam from the hose hit the water it was converted back into water again, so the water could be used over and over again. Of course a small amount of water (as steam)may be lost around the front and rear water seals (around the barrel), so you would slowly run lower and lower on your water supply. Since potable water was rare, the crew often collected additional water from wherever they could, often from shell holes. This would keep the gun firing, but would require a more intense cleaning after use since the water could have been contaminated by gas which was corrosive. Dan