Mecklenburg
Well-known member
Fantastic Italian collection!
Italian Royal Army in WW1
- Thread starter Zebedeus
- Start date
John Josef
Well-known member
Beautiful additions to a world class collection. 
Doug B
Well-known member
He looks just like Matthew McConaughey!
My compliments on an outstanding Italian collection from the Great War! The craftsmanship is evident in every piece but the most impressive to me is the bullion work on the headgear. Just wow!
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Zebedeus
Well-known member
Hi Doug, No doubt it's him himself....or maybe his grandfather.
Dear Doug, thanks very much for the appreciation, it's always nice to hear that.
You're absolutely right, though. I've always thought that Italian peaked caps of the period were very elaborately designed.
The imposing height, the gold or silver thread rank badges that wrap around the cap itself, and the specialty insignia, each unique and all produced by skilled embroiderers, make them, in my opinion, small masterpieces.
How much would they have cost the officer who purchased them at the time?
At a glance, they gave the expert observer all the necessary information:
- the rank
- the specialty
- the regiment/unit in which he served.
Perhaps too much information during the war...
I believe that no other European army at the time had such rich and elaborate headgear.
Zeb
gino1
Well-known member
Hello Zeb, a really beautiful collection; you rarely see pieces like these here in Belgium. When you take a good look at all those beautiful pieces made back then, the people who created them must have truly been artists in their craft—something you don't really see these days, except perhaps during parades in certain countries.