Expensive photo - Leib Husar

[Utgardloki]

anyone else observed this ebay offer? Incredible details in it...

https://www.ebay.at/itm/Foto-Leib-Husar-Offizier-Danzig-1851-Pelzmutze-Totenkopf-Leibhusaren-RARE/254698553127?hash=item3b4d377f27:g:8sgAAOSwMX1fQ~EO

[Utgardloki]

I thought it could be a napoleonic veteran on a gatharing in 1851 (year written on backside)... the second picture you posted is easier to make out as an reenactor. The genuine photo is taken later and shows a contemporary Leib Husar (not an old veteran or reenactor).

Are there any known definitely genuine pictures of napoleonic veterans wearing their old uniforms... ?

Edited August 30, 2020 by Utgardloki

[VtwinVince]

LOL, it's amazing what suckers will pay on fleabay.

[Bayern]

Jan Kube in his book Militaria , tells about the Centennial uniforms manufactured to conmemorate not only centenary of Battles but also regimental  ones . including Bavaria .

[Utgardloki]

Thanks for Your replies and book recommendation... I remember seeing some photographs of veterans from the grand armée in uniform but not a single german one (in uniform)

[GdC26]

On 30/08/2020 at 06:16, Simius Rex said:

In my opinion, the photograph in the link was taken around the time of the Befreiungskriege Centennial celebrations.  The man looks like he has a fake mustache and beard glued onto his face.  His uniform, to a large extent, looks like a reproduction.  He was probably a participant in re-enactment activities for one of the several celebrations taking place in 1913. I pity the fool who paid 2K for what was probably intended to be a novelty portrait. Just my 2 cents.  Simi.    

Much as I like your thesis Simi, I'm not a 100% sold on it. The comparison with the other pic you've shown is problematic, because most of the uniform details are hidden by the Pelz worn in that photograph. More importantly, the Pelzmütze shown in the threadstarter seems to be of an altogether different type of those worn in the Napoleontic area, and could in fact be correct for the mid 19th century. 

 

I am traveling and don't have access to my books, do I had to resort to the internet - but if you study the plates below you'll see what I mean. 

Mind you, I'm not saying the threat starter is good, and I agree there are some crude details on the tunic (like the mounting of the tress on the right breast of the person depicted, and the rather curious way the shoulder board is attached). But I'm not fully sold yet on the theory that this is (just another) centenary pic.

[ArHo]

Well, the insanity goes on. There is another pair of these reenactment-pictures up for sale (the beard is so clearly glued to the mans face its ridiculous) and bidding has reached 2900 (!) Euros. I just cannot understand it. If anyone is interested to have a look:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/2-x-Fotos-Leib-Husar-Offizier-Danzig-Pelzmutze-Totenkopf-Leibhusaren/254713135595?hash=item3b4e1601eb:g:mc4AAOSwGQJfV4d3

By the way @Simius Rex - It looks like the arrows painted on all these pictures are very similar, all from one seller who perhaps got a bunch of these and now slowly sells them a piece a time? Just a guess...

Edited September 12, 2020 by ArHo

[Trooper_D]

15 hours ago, ArHo said:

Well, the insanity goes on. There is another pair of these reenactment-pictures up for sale (the beard is so clearly glued to the mans face its ridiculous) and bidding has reached 2900 (!) Euros. I just cannot understand it. If anyone is interested to have a look:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/2-x-Fotos-Leib-Husar-Offizier-Danzig-Pelzmutze-Totenkopf-Leibhusaren/254713135595?hash=item3b4e1601eb:g:mc4AAOSwGQJfV4d3

By the way @Simius Rex - It looks like the arrows painted on all these pictures are very similar, all from one seller who perhaps got a bunch of these and now slowly sells them a piece a time? Just a guess...

The bidding is all the stranger for the seller saying no more than that the man is wearing an 1850 model busby.

It has to be said, of course, that this is careful wording which, while factually correct, allows a naive bidder room to read more into the description than is justified. 

[Djedj]

Bonjour,

Well it even seems that the 3 photos are showing the same "Model", with different types of false moustaches/beards...

Definitely dodgy sales - someone will get badly burnt..

(well, IF there is actually a real bidder in these auctions !)

Jerome

On 01/09/2020 at 15:24, Utgardloki said:

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Djedj

[Great Dane]

The suspensions on those medals look very British.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Great Dane

[Djedj]

(..)

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Djedj

[Djedj]

(...)

Edited September 15, 2020 by Djedj

[ArHo]

And the next two pictures, from this seller ? Rare stuff, indeed...

At least he changed the arrows (wonder if he is reading this thread, too?)

https://www.ebay.de/itm/254722437688

The starting price is now so ridiculous that I start to ask myself if, like @Djedj wrote, this whole thing is "real". Well a bad dream for anyone who buys these... I wonder if these are pictures taken in the context of some theatrical show. Perhaps famous actors in theses days...?

Stay safe

Edited September 18, 2020 by ArHo

[GreyC]

He has sold 24 items so far. If they all went for that sort of price...

GreyC

[Djedj]

Bonjour,

There are more - with a "discount" for Christmas ! ??

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-x-Photos-Leib-Husar-Totenkopf-Leibhusaren-Danzig/373407738964?hash=item56f0d5ec54:g:h5sAAOSwlHdf6JLp

Now if you look at the photo to the right (outlined in red), I'm pretty sure that the basis is a CDV of ....Kronprinz Friedrich-Wilhelm, in his uniform as Colonel en Chef of the ... Russian 11th Izyumski  Hussars !
(can't find it right now, but a well-known CDV by Levitsky).

Heavily doctored to add up a Prussian Pelzmütze and blacken out the cuff braiding.

So - fake.
(now is anyone surprised ?)

Jerome

(note the arrows have disappeared !)

[ArHo]

Achja, this seems to go on and on... Thanks for posting, I guess it is important to decoment these pictures to avoid more people getting fooled ?

@Djedj I would love to see the Vorlage for any one of these - I had guessed that they were fabricated before (whole or in part) but of course the quality of the images given is not good enough.

Here are the ones from two other auctions in October and November (the "sideburns"-guy) I post here, also of course for no other than documentary reasons. It looks like someone "faked" (?) a whole album that was ripped up later and sold in part some time in the past already???

I would really, really love to know the whole story behind all this...

And one more to document it: These were on sale in November - have "fun" (I love the guy with the 1970s sideburns...) ?

Edited January 3, 2021 by ArHo

[Djedj]

Bonsoir,

Here is another photo of Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm, in Russian Hussar uniform, from the same sitting as the one, used as basis for one of the "doctored" photos :

 

Jerome.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Djedj

[ArHo]

@Djedj Thank you so much for this! I guess now it should be clear for the last of us that these pictures are not period originals... I took the freedom to manipulate your picture to make the resemblance even clearer. Please let me know if you oppose. Beste Grüße! ArHo