possibly the Greatest WWI Souvenir "hate" belt -ever

[Claudius]

It is a bold statement, however I have looked at a lot of belts over the decades and I still think that this one is the best one.

I found my Kodak photos of this belt.  As you can see, it was photographed in sections to archive the belt.  I have to state, that this was before the internet or digital cameras and the photos were taken and processed with developer and fixer.  The second-last owner of the belt wanted to document the belt and ultimately I received the photos.  This will be the first time this belt will be shown (unless the negatives are out there somewhere).

As you can see, its more of a piece of folk art than just a haphazard collection of uniform bits.  The original owner appears to have carefully selected each piece and where to arrange it.  Starting with his choice of a double wide belt.  Note the use of all three, black, silver and gold wound badges.  The EK2, Centennial medal and coins all had metal tags soldered on to affix them to the belt.  From feldmutzes and shoulder tabs he add the metal; death's head, train and guards along with several unit cyphers.  And you can't miss the cliche-style pilot's badge.  The "artist" then signed and dated his work, again using metal unit insignia.

I've had decades to contemplate this pice and I've wondered what assignment the original owner had that gave him access to this wide variety of pieces.  Two come to mind; POW camp guard or Graves Registration.  

I was a close friend to the persons who bought it directly from the dealer when it walked through the door.  For good or ill, the belt was disassembled and I was offered pieces from it.  I purchased several of the items.  Notability, what I didn't buy was the helmet plate and the train insignia.  I even have the empty leather belt.wwi souvenir belt -TIFF.tiff 

 

wwi souvenir belt3.jp2

Edited May 4, 2020 by Claudius

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

 

cannot open the pic?

[OvBacon]

I took the liberty to download it and reupload in a visible format

[Trooper_D]

That . Is . Astonishing !

But it was taken apart and dispersed??? It should have been in a museum but at least let us thank goodness you were able to take photographs of it.

I have never come across anything like this before. Are 'hate belts' a genre?

[Claudius]

18 hours ago, Trooper_D said:

That . Is . Astonishing !

But it was taken apart and dispersed??? It should have been in a museum but at least let us thank goodness you were able to take photographs of it.

I have never come across anything like this before. Are 'hate belts' a genre?

Thank you posting my photo OvBacon.  When I originally tried to attach the photo it posted in this odd way.  I don't know why.  Then I tried adding it as a TIFF file and that went poorly too.

 Hello Trooper D;

Yes, I was a spectator to this decision, however I wasn't going to refuse items off it on principle.  I didn't have a lot of money back then, and the pilot badge was a lot of my budget.

I think I've seen more "hate" belts (I've never liked this name, but it was widely used in the collecting community) in the past.   I think it is a collecting field with some collectors.

[Trooper_D]

1 hour ago, Claudius said:

Yes, I was a spectator to this decision, however I wasn't going to refuse items off it on principle.  I didn't have a lot of money back then, and the pilot badge was a lot of my budget.

I am sure that you were right to try to rescue something out of what was a foregone conclusion, Claudio! 

[VtwinVince]

Holy cow, that is impressive. Do you still have the pilot badge?

[Claudius]

5 hours ago, VtwinVince said:

Holy cow, that is impressive. Do you still have the pilot badge?

Yes I do.  It makes a wonderful comparison to my other cliche pilot badge.  Considering its construction/quality, I estimate that it is an early war or maybe prewar made.

I look back at this post and think how terrible the lighting was and I should have given this study of two different badges its own thread.  I may have to rectify this.  The square punch hallmark badge is not fairly represented.  It has a high shine surface and is really well made...for a cliche'.  I believe it is a good, period. The provenance is very long, prior to 1980. 

 

[VtwinVince]

OK, I remember that thread. Very nice and unusual badges.