Hauptmann

Thanks guys! Deeply appreciate all the good comments and confirmation. Was just having a senior moment and wanted to reconfirm. Ya'll are the best! Dan

I'm not positive but from what I've found this should be a Canadian General Service button from 1924 to 1946. Dan

Thanks guys! Many thanks for the confirmation. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't gotten any mixed up with some copies I keep separate. Many thanks! Dan

Many thanks for any and all help. Dan

Just need to confirm if these are good... I believe they are but want to make sure:

Just found this... goes into it in much more depth. http://www.samilitaryhistory.org/vol046fm.html Dan

Peter, this reminds me of a documentary (I think it was Secrets Of The Dead-Day Of The Zulu) I saw on the battles of Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift. From what I remember they had found many cartridges on the battlefield that were damaged and they talked about how they had the problems you describe. They also discussed how the ammunition came in boxes that were rather difficult to open without a special tool (If I recall correctly) and this caused problems in keeping up the supply of ammo needed by the troops which all added to the defeat at Isandlwana. I'll have to look through my collection of discs and see if I can find it again. I've always had an interest in these battles ever since seeing Zulu when I was much younger. Dan

Hi Mike, I tried to go there but needed to register. So I tried... it kept not accepting it saying I needed to choose an interest although I had... medal collector. Finally I had to choose another, researcher, before it would accept my registration but now it says the administrators have to approve the registration. So until that happens I can't see the thread. I'm hoping if they do approve that it won't be a problem for them to change the interest to medal collector. Dan

Hi Mike. Stunning pieces... are they yours? If so you are indeed a lucky man. I love all the British Orders, especially the breast stars but the one neck Order that I truly LOVE is the C.B.E. I think that is the most beautiful blue enamel they used on those. I have just received a nice copy from a friend as an early Christmas present and it's as close as I'm likely to come, at least for some time. I had a cased M.B.E. for years but sadly had to let it go along with the best of my small British collection in order to get some other pieces I wanted to get a couple of years ago. But hoping against hope to be able to get examples of the M.B.E., O.B.E. and C.B.E. at some point down the road. Dan

Kim and I have many all time favorite British shows we've watched over the years on PBS here in the states. One of them is Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister. I have the whole series on DVD and just recently went through and watched them all. One of my favorites is the one about the civil service receiving honours. Here's a couple of my favorite quotes: (Talking about the abbreviations of the honours CMG, KCMG and GCMG) Bernard Woolley: "Of course in the service, CMG stands for Call Me God. And KCMG for Kindly Call Me God." Jim Hacker: "What does GCMG stand for?" Bernard Woolley: "God Calls Me God." Jim Hacker: "When did a civil servant last refuse an honour?" Bernard Woolley: "Well I think there was somebody in the Treasury that refused a Knighthood." Jim Hacker: "Good God. When?" Bernard Woolley: "I think it was 1496." Jim Hacker: "Why?" Bernard Woolley: "He had already got one." Here's the episode online: http://www.free-tv-v...?id=Orf3b0ShUNE For the second quote go to about 5:50 and it's in a great conversation there, then the first quote is in one between the Minister and Bernard at about 15:50. But the entire episode is very funny with lots of mentions of Orders and Honours. Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne (Sir Humphrey Appleby) after receiving the C.B.E. Sir Paul Eddington (The Minister/Prime Minister) was also awarded a C.B.E. but I could not find a picture of him with it. Both these fine actors have since passed on. Derek Fowlds who played Bernard is happily still with us. Have fun! Dan

Hey Rick, nice find! Very nice design. Believe this is one of what I call the "tinnies"... the small pins that the Soviet's seemed to go so mad about collecting. Kind of like U.S. baseball cards and such. It's one I've not seen before but I do like it's look. Anything with trains on it gets my vote! Dan

Many thanks. This is most helpful. Again it's always better to state the reasons instead of just saying "fake" or "bad", etc. Otherwise no one learns what to avoid in future. Deeply appreciate the extra info and the help on the original post! Dan

Can you give the reason(s) why? It will help to educate other members. And if you have pics of an original set for comparison that would be even better for a side by side comparison. I've noticed alot of Imperial Russian items including shoulder boards have been popping up on Ebay of late and I'm sure in other places so would definitely be good to know what to look for to avoid the fakes. Many thanks! Dan

Wish I could do better. The problem is that jpg's like the original image are difficult to resize as you start to lose detail and it gets blurry as in this case. It was about as far as I could take it. It's much easier to make them smaller and I have a problem that does just that. But for enlarging I have to go through Paint and it's slightly trickier. Also appearances can change depending on what browser is being used and what the settings are as these vary from computer to computer. Best solution is a new pic or preferabiy scan of the "copy"... and again would be great to have a good scan of the full obverse and reverse and again of the selected area of the crown/top arm of the cross. But hoping this at least helps a bit for now. Dan

Copy on the left, original on the right. About as good as I can get it unless I'm provided with a new scan of the copy, especially the section in question here. Might be good to have a full pic of the original for comparison as well... obverse and reverse if possible. Dan

As it's a request and hoping neither of you mind me reposting your pics: If a larger pic/scan can be done of the crown/upper cross arm section of the copy to match the original that would be even better. If so, pop it over to me (dwatson@daktel.com) and I'll be happy to edit this and put it in in place of the copy pic included here. Dan

Just a quick suggestion. I think it would be helpful if comparison pics could be placed one above or next to each other. It's hard to go back and forth between posts that are several posts apart and make proper comparisons. I think having them next to each other would make a good comparison much easier/better. Many thanks! Dan

Just to add to Eric's comment re: a decent fake ORB... make the CSM (MMM) an unnumbered example. Be nice if you could find one that's unmounted or that looks to have a newer or replaced mount as if it were me I'd hate to muck around with a nice older one, even one that is indeed unnumbered... but that's just me. A Lenin Centennial medal is an easy find... but I'd try to find one of the military issues as opposed to the labor... but of course they are identical from the front so that's not crucial... again just something I'd do. And you could also get one of the aged ORS copies as finding an original with no number would be a tough one. Again that because I don't necessarily like to mix one individuals awards (even if unknown) with another's awards unless one has no choice for a display. Dan

Hi Nick. I try. How's "High Holy Week" gone so far? Dan

Hope this helps. Dan

So I've managed with no effort to have another country represented in my collection... which is of course always a good thing. Again many thanks to Odulf for his kind assistance. Dan

Have had this one for many years now, sitting on a display shelf. I picked it up in a small antique shop in St. Louis. Of late I'm pondering trying to add a U.S. WW1 uniform (or at least tunic) to my collection so thought I'd see what the actual history of this one was in the hopes of being able to us it with said uniform/tunic for a display. I've now been told that the helmet is actually Dutch: The helmet has a Dutch chinstrap and liner (size 56 cm). After the War, the Dutch Government changed the British lining and straps; the lock on the straps are "quick release", to avoid a man being strangled when the helmet was pulled backwards. This type of straps was introduced in about 1948. The stamps shows the Dutch Lion (with in its paws a bundle of arrows and a sword) and I can see part of the text "GOEDGEKEURD" (translated: approved). During the War the Dutch Forces adopted the English helmets (and uniforms) and these were continued to be worn until the 1950s, but with a brownish green colour. The pale grey helmets were used by the Dutch Red Cross and Civil Defense for long after. It has traveled a long way from home, when it showed up in St.Louis.... Many thanks to Odulf for this extremely helpful information! So I figured I'd pop it in here to share with any of our members who are intro'd in Dutch militaria.

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=46602 Thanks, Dan