Unit & uniform ID as well as a few more questions

[Tony]

Hello,

I?m hoping someone can help me out here with the ID of the uniform being worn in the photo.

1. Prussian, Bavarian or something else?

2. Can anyone tell his rank?

3. What might this birthday present have been used for apart from sticking on the end of a horse?s leg and galloping? It looks like something to keep your pens in.

4. Does anyone know what the badge is for on top? It looks more like a jockey than a cavalryman on the horse.

5. Just in case Rick R sees this upon his return, what?s his name (the horse), where did he live and who?s the trooper pictured?

The light coloured ribbon type decoration around the top of the hoof and bottom of the lid was originally blue but has (probably) faded in sunlight.

Thanks

Tony

[Tony]

The badge on the lid

[Tony]

The shoe/box or whatever you'd like to call it

[Tony]

He's a lancer isn't he.

Edited October 20, 2006 by Tony

[dwmosher]

Tony

The subject is a Bavarian uhlan from either 1.Ulanen-Regt (brass fittings and buttons) or 2.Ulan-Regt (silver fittings and buttons). The rank button is for a Gefreiter (lance corporal). The waffenrock (tunic for Bavarian uhlans) is in dark green, piped in crimson red.

regards

Dave

[Tony]

Thanks for that Dave, I wonder if that explains the blue colour too. It's a shame his name isn't on their.

Is a Gefreiter really a L/Cpl? I thought a Gefreiter was a senior Private, not a junior NCO.

I bet he had to get up early in the morning to sort out that cracking hair style and moustache.

Almost forgot to ask, can you (or anyone else) give me a rough date for when the photo may have been taken?

Cheers

Tony

Edited October 20, 2006 by Tony

[David Gregory]

I bet he had to get up early in the morning to sort out that cracking hair style and moustache.

Tony,

Perhaps he saved time in the morning by storing his moustache in the box overnight (which would explain the retaining clips on the inside).

David

[Tony]

Nice one David

Baldrick could have done with a horse hoof for storing his Charlie Chaplin moustache between shows.

[Dave Danner]

Is a Gefreiter really a L/Cpl? I thought a Gefreiter was a senior Private, not a junior NCO.

Lance corporals are not NCOs in the US Marine Corps. They are NCOs in the British Army. I guess it depends on the military.

I suppose we use what we use because Gefreiter doesn't literally translate into English. It derives from gefreyter Knecht in medieval German armies. Since Gefreiten are senior to privates but below corporals and sergeants, lance corporal is a common and convenient, if not wholly accurate translation. The wikipedia article on Gefreiter, by the way, recommends against translating Gefreiter as lance corporal, because of the NCO/private issue.

[Chip]

Which begs the question then, what would be the equivalent of an Obergefreiter? This rank existed in the imperial artillery.

Chip

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Tony,

is there anything engraved on the shield device on the horses hoof??

hard to tell from the picture, could it have been given as a prize in a regimental sports-riding competion??

and can you post a better shot of the inside showing the clips? for ciggerettes or cigars?? (does it smell of tobbaco)?

Kevin in Deva

Edited October 21, 2006 by Kev in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

The badge on the lid

I just noticed that there might have been a handle fitted to each side of the horse shoe as well

Kevin in Deva

Edited October 21, 2006 by Kev in Deva

[Tony]

Hello Kev,

Yes I noticed that on the lid too, the handle must have been there to open and close it.

The inside just smells old, the clips are brass under the material and a bit too strongly sprung to hold smokes without damaging them I think.

The plate on the front says happy birthday, below that are the initials MH.

Tony

[Kev in Deva]

Hello Kev,

Yes I noticed that on the lid too, the handle must have been there to open and close it.

The inside just smells old, the clips are brass under the material and a bit too strongly sprung to hold smokes without damaging them I think.

The plate on the front says happy birthday, below that are the initials MH.

Tony

Ok, Tony

a totaly off the cuff guess here about the contents of the box: a set of spurs

Kevin in Deva

[Tony]

My wife just had a look at it and reckons the original owner would probably have been a 165 cm tall Trakehner (don't know how many hands that is but it's about 5' 3") going by the size of the hoof. She couldn't tell me its name though.

I asked what she thought may have been kept inside and she said it looks like the kind of stupid birthday present a bloke would buy for his wife and he then probably kept his cigarettes inside. This was said before knowing what you suggested Kev.

Anyway, I've put a some WWI period smokes in it and have taken a pic. From left to right we have:

a Woodbine

a Princess Mary 1914 Christmas smoke

another Woodbine

a Will's Whiff

Tony

[peter monahan]

Tony wrote

" I asked what she thought may have been kept inside and she said it looks like the kind of stupid birthday present a bloke would buy for his wife and he then probably kept his cigarettes inside. This was said before knowing what you suggested Kev. "

Tony

I'll bet yr wife has it spot on. Reminds me of the year I bought the wife a power drill for Xmas.

No comment from her but the next year I got a lovely little black cocktail dress in my stocking!

Sure looks like a "guy present" to me!

Spurs sound good, or mechanical pencils or even test tubes of moustache wax and pomade. Neat, in a morbid sort of way: "I love my horse so much I'm going to keep part of him with me always." Though I seem to recall that one of the Britsh cavalry regiments keep/kept a snuff box in the mess made from the hoof of the drum horse or a famous charger. The Scots Greys and one of the horses riden at Waterloo? Rick would know.

Edited October 21, 2006 by peter monahan