Hauptmann

Hi Vic, PM sent by the way re the Reaper. And I'd love to come see the new additions as soon as you manage to find and grab them at a good price. Dan

Hi Kevin, Many thanks! And you also have a great looking group of sets there... definitely, if you have more I know I for one would LOVE to see it all! And yes Vic, I definitely agree. Prices have been pretty steady on most DDR militaria for quite some time but a few have gone up... as Kevin said mostly the higher end pieces. But even some of those are still well within the range of affordability for most folks. You can put together amazing collections of this stuff with relatively little investment. Dan

I believe the word you're looking for is wrench. Beautiful pieces, one and all . They make me truly regret not buying one when I had the chance. But hopefully another one will turn up at a good price. I totally agree with Vic... if you've got them or got pictures of them... flaunt them! j Dan

Hi Tony, Nice case! On the mark... I think I've heard of a Dench & Sons London somewhere along the line so perhaps that is it. And of course we used British equipment, they used ours... same in both wars. And as they are both basically identical I feel that perhaps it's really not off topic. Gives a good comparison between two nearly identical items used by different allied nations. And to me that's educational... and I'm fairly sure the others would agree. Many thanks for sharing it. Dan

Hi Ed, So research based just on the number is not possible? I got this from Alexander Filer over at Soviet Screwbacks.com. He made a comment in one of his emails to me which made me think it might be possible to do it based solely on the number. It's not a biggie one way or the other... just would have been a nice little dollop cream on top of it all. Mucho thanks! Dan

Wow! Nice one Vic! I remember seeing those in the Sovietski catalog and a few other places. Was very tempted. I keep hoping one will come up on Ebay and that by the grace of God I might actually luck out and get for dirt cheap. Hey... I can dream can't I? Dan

Hi all, Don't suppose anyone has any camo examples? I had one and let it go many moons ago. Didn't want to and really wish I'd kept it. Was a beautiful piece and I haven't seen too many pop up since. And best thing was... it was stone cold mint! So come on folks... dig some out and let me see, although I'll just start kicking myself harder for letting mine slip away. Thanks, Dan

Hi Tony, Beautiful piece! I especially love how the base material on yours stayed red where mine got dark. Would love to see the case if you manage to find it. Also, what does the FL stand for on the back of yours? Thanks so much for sharing this! Dan

Hi all, I'm waiting for the absolute final confirmation, but looks like I've not only won the second of those Umalatova OGPW... but I should have four more coming to me as well... so I'll have a total of six when all is said and done. I hope to have pics of those other four very soon. Am hoping there will be more variations. Really love these things. Once I have them all I'll have thirteen OGPW total. Never thought I'd have that many. Now I just can't get enough of them. Sure hope one day I can get the early hanging types as I really like those... but at the very least more type 2's would be terrific. Great awards. Dan

Hi Vic, Hey, if you can afford to get those then you need to fly me out to see them in person once you have them! Seriously, they are really beautiful pieces... at least in my humble opinion. But I fear I'll never own any of them. They shot up into the heavens and are well beyond my reach. But I do love them from afar and wouldn't mind decent copies one of these days if nothing else. Thanks so much for the kind words re: my DDR collection. Actually I also have a few uniforms, caps and field gear I've yet to post. But as far as awards that's the bulk of it. Of course, donations are always gleefully accepted! Try for a set of the Banner der Arbeit if you don't mind the suggestion. They're really nice pieces. Also the highest police Order... nicknamed the Order of the Grim Reaper for obvious reasons. they're really quite nice and not much at all if you bide your time and keep an eye out on Ebay. And you're lucky actually... from what I've seen there's literally a gazillion tons of inexpensive DDR stuff in England. Whereas on Ebay the listings I tend to see here are same old, same old... all the common stuff I've already seen a million times. Here's hoping that before long your collection will be filled with many quality items we can all drool over. Dan

Hi Dan, Hey, no apologies necessary. Just happy this thing is finally getting some air time so to speak. If anyone should apologize it's me... for not making the connection between the award packet address and that match book. In all these years it's never hit me until today. Just never put that much significance on it. But all it takes is one small key to open a big lock and hence a large door. What you say makes perfect sense to me so far and I totally agree. I'd see little reason for an elderly WWI pilot in a staff or higher position to wear one of these. Again to me all signs still point to it being a WWI period piece. Not that I'm closing any doors but it just seems logical given all the evidence I currently have. Oh if only a picture would show up. What I wouldn't give short of my soul to see a shot of a WWI pilot wearing this during the war. It would make several of my years believe me as this has been a mystery for a long time, with only Judge Crater, Amelia Earhart, Flight 19 and Jimmy Hoffa winning a higher place on the food chain for me. I'll continue to stay tuned to this bat channel for further developments. Many thanks, Dan

[attachmentid=51344] Well, afraid that's all I have in singles. Dan

Next one of Ritter Von Epp: [attachmentid=51343] I love that long ribbon bar of his!

[attachmentid=51342]

Hi Pat, As promised... here's my two single photos. I'm happy to do shots of the AH and Olympia books if you or anyone else are intro'd but I think they've been around enough that most folks have seen them. But let me know and I'll be happy to oblige. This first one is of a group of SA: [attachmentid=51341]

Hi all, Here's my first OGPW 1st class 1985 issue: [attachmentid=51338] [attachmentid=51339] And here's a group shot of all my OGPW... for now. I have the other 1st class coming this next week, plus I'm waiting on the final word but believe I've worked out not just the one other 2nd Umalatova but the other four the seller had left as well. So I'll have a total of six Umalatova GPW's before too much longer. Hope to have pics of them to share very soon. [attachmentid=51340] Top row, left to right: 1st class WWII type 2 variation 1, 2nd class WWII Second row, left to right: 1st class 1985, 2nd class 1985 Third row: Both 2nd class 1985 Bottom: 2nd class Umalatova So once I have this new 1st class and the remaining Umalatova's I'll have a total of thirteen OGPW's. I wonder if I'm becoming obsessed with these little jewels? To be honest, I never thought I'd have this many but I guess it's like so many other slippery slopes in this hobby. Dan

[attachmentid=51336] [attachmentid=51337] I wish I had at least taken photographs of the entire contents of the box. There were some allied aviation pieces... dog tags, insignia, a roll of film which showed what appeared to be a dog fight if I remember correctly... some British items. Just been so long I can't really remember in detail. And then several full sets of Imperial German wound badges as well as several partial black and silver sets. There were quite a number all told. And of course, the cloth Pilots badge in the packet. Anyhow, there you have it. Hope these help shed some light on all this. And in any event I've always thought these were great items on their own merit. And they certainly add alot to a First World War display. Dan

Razor blades: [attachmentid=51329] [attachmentid=51330] [attachmentid=51331] [attachmentid=51332] [attachmentid=51333] [attachmentid=51334] [attachmentid=51335]

French matches: [attachmentid=51325] [attachmentid=51326] [attachmentid=51327] [attachmentid=51328]

French railway tickets: [attachmentid=51321] [attachmentid=51322] [attachmentid=51323] [attachmentid=51324]

[attachmentid=51318] Swedish matches: [attachmentid=51319] [attachmentid=51320]

Hi all, Roderick, another member over at the AF made some interesting observations re: Metz: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthre...ed=1#post286637 I decided to go scanner happy (as if I'd not already reached that stage ) and do pics of the other items I still have (save the wound badge set as those I've already posted) that came in the box with the pilots badge and it's packet. Here's the pics: First, yet another clue... a matchbook: [attachmentid=51315] [attachmentid=51316] [attachmentid=51317] In all these years I never realized the connection between these and the packet with the address in Metz.

And last but not least the side markings: [attachmentid=51308] [attachmentid=51309] I've always wondered if it might be possible to ID the original owner of this piece by the info he marked on the case, etc. He sure seemed determined to make it known who it belonged to. Dan

And now the compass proper: [attachmentid=51306] Corps Of Engineers U.S. Army [attachmentid=51305] [attachmentid=51304] CE (for Corps of Engineers I assume) No. 3393 1918 There are some other markings that I cannot make out... possibly initials and what looks like the Roman numeral IX. [attachmentid=51303] [attachmentid=51307]

[attachmentid=51301] [attachmentid=51300] It says: S-Co-M-104th 26th Div. 10-12-18 France [attachmentid=51302] This part has initials: T-F-P and again the date 10-12-18