SOS 2006 Imperial review

[Blitz]

I finally made it across the pond. The flights were very tiresom and long, but that was forgotten as soon as I set my foot inside the show. Now thats what I'd call a big event. Most of the stuff was US naturally and there were only a few guys with Imperial stuff around, so the material benefit consists of 4 books that I got. But that didn't really bother me. I was able to meet so many old friends and combine names with faces thats it's still hard to put them in any order. I even got to meet the Evil Twinns! One of them is indeed Evil.. I also met Oak leaf winner Walter Schuck and had a long talk with him in german. He was happy to see a finnish face there, especially because he was stationed in Finland for three years during the war!

Here are a few Imperial things that I spotted there, first off some pickelhaubes.. (sorry about the small size, but my per post limit isn't bigger than that..)

[Blitz]

More pickelhaubes..

[Blitz]

Some more still..

[Blitz]

A prussian garde set..

[Blitz]

A nice Baden pickelhaube of garde regiment 109. It's a shame it's priced at 10 000 $.

[Blitz]

Some hessian awards. The grand cross of the order of Ludwig is larger in real life then what you'd think. The Saxon SEHO isn't bad either..

Edited March 8, 2006 by Blitz

[Blitz]

Some nice medalbars..

[Blitz]

And an imperial tunic, this is actually the only imperial tunic I remember seeing there.. Thats what I got, thanks for your time! If you want to see pics of some more general stuff, I've posted a thread at WAF.

Edited March 8, 2006 by Blitz

[Paul C]

Great Pics and it was very nice to meet you at the Show.

[Stogieman]

Great photos and thanks for sharing them!

[Paul R]

Stunning displays!!! The medal bars are beautiful.

What is the third medal from the left on the Saxon bar?

Paul

[Bob Hunter]

Were those on Andreas' or Phil Mitchell's table?

[Blitz]

Thanks Guys! It was a pleasure to meet you too Paul. Yep, thats Andreas' stuff..

[JBFloyd]

Now I can fianlly see what I missed by being tied to my tables and auction room for the weekend!

[Claudio]

Hi Antti,

Great to know that you could make it to the SOS!

Right now I am still in vacations in Brasil, which is not bad either...

I noticed a medal bar (picture posting # 7, top row), which was offered to me during a break at Thies Auction for "mere" Eur 4500.-

I wonder if you still remember the dealer's name and the price of the medal bar. I remember that it was in pristine conditions.

Ciao,

Claudio

[medalnet]

I wonder if you still remember the dealer's name and the price of the medal bar. I remember that it was in pristine conditions.

Ciao,

Claudio

It is still availiable...

[Stogieman]

I think Andreas' Saxon bar of four is the true rarity in that photograph. Who can tell me why?

[CRBeery]

I think Andreas' Saxon bar of four is the true rarity in that photograph. Who can tell me why?

I had my little paws on that one! Very nice.

[Stogieman]

Should have bought it Chet! You definately should have bought it... that makes exactly two of that version of the Albert Cross I have ever seen!!!

[CRBeery]

Rick,

One very important thing I learned at the SOS is that I feel like the poor kid in this hobby because I am!!! If only I had your credit card with me.

[Schießplatzmeister]

Dear Stogieman:

A great observation on your part as to the rarity of the piece in the grouping shown above! I believe that I have a possible answer as to why the Saxon mounted group of four that is pictured above is so rare.

First of all, the piece in the first position is the Saxon Albert Order "Kleinkreuz" or "Ehrenkreuz" (as it was known after 1858). There were only 362 awards (Weber, Arnold, Kiel)/386awards (Roth) without swords made! The exact number with swords is not known, but it can only be a handful as I do not believe that any are noted in the common literature. This piece is a true rarity. It was undoubtedly awarded during the 1863/4 or 1866 conflicts as the context of the grouping shows.

I doubt that one of these will be seen again during our lifetimes after this is sold and goes into a private collection!

Oh, if only I didn't have a mortgage payment, car payments, a spouse, children, etc.

Thanks,

"SPM"

[Guest Rick Research]

Here's Antti's Hessian scan a BIT bigger:

[attachmentid=30248]

It's a settings issue, since my poor old computer makes the same size as Antti's original, only with about 5 times less kilobytes used! It's just more proof that I am the Good Twin.

[Blitz]

Holy Smokes! Bigger IS better! Thanks for the enlargement Rick! So you're in Brazil Claudio? Wow. I thought I had gone along way.. Seen any nice awards there? I hear the older Brazilian ones are quite nice..

[notned]

I echo those comments from Antti....Awesome!... the detail is superb!

the beauty of Imperial...is magic!

Antti, thanks for showing us poor buggers down under...the SOS pics...we cannot fly here and there willy nilly....as we are soooo far away down here! its costs a fortune to get anywhere! ...NOT to mention the missus is having a baby! so...that curtails any flying ANYWHERE....for the moment anyway....

Rick...the scanner is Not what makes you the GOOD twin....its your Immense knowledge and willingness to share it ...that makes you earn brownie points to be the the Good twin....hee hee....

[Ulsterman]

Great pics.

I am in the background in one of them. Can you spot me?