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A local Ohio friend and fellow medal collector who is an expat Brit from Manchester, decided to sell off his Military General Service (Peninsular War) and Waterloo medals a few years ago. Some of these found their way into my eager clutches. Given our mutual interest in the Napoleonic wars, I...

'Each one a Pocket Hercules' Due to display limitations, my pursuit of helmets and headgear has been greatly slowed in recent years. However, I happened upon the attached at SOS '25 and couldn't resist. My interest in the Bantam Battalions (men whose stature was between 5' and 5'-2") stems from...

I spotted the following on fleaBay, and find it difficult to accept the hyperbole that it is a Zeppelin-related item. The seller's description alleges the bullion embroidery on the fringed streamers of the Kaiserkrone symbolizes "Z" for Zeppelin and "V" for valor (shouldn't that be "T" for...

Though I remained in contact with Otto (Rendsburg) via Facebook, I had not heard from him in ages. Consequently, I visited his profile page the other day and learned he passed away in July 2022 after undergoing surgery in June. If memory serves, the eponymous social forum was created as a...

In 2019, at the final MAX in Monroeville, PA, I spotted this, pounced, and brought it home for relative peanuts. These are the photos I took with my phone that evening at the hotel. Kaiserliche Marine in Feldgrau:

One of the few helmets I acquired within recent memory is this Boxer Rebellion era Tschako named to "Sergeant" Marte of the Ostasiatisches Feld-Lazarett (field hospital) As one can see, the Kaiserkrone has been neatly removed – perhaps in compliance with Weimar Republic mandates. In all other...

I haven't actively been collecting Imperial German awards for some time, but this proved an exception. After years of settling for gap-filler, postwar Zweitstück PLMs that run the gamut from sanctioned to schmuck, I finally landed a textbook wartime Wagner (with Eichenlaub, no less). Ignore...

I purchased one item at the MAX, but I think it's a keeper — 1. Badisches Leib-Grenadier-Regt. Nr. 109: The enamel damage at 3:00 o'clock in the Stern zum Haus-Orden der Treue is the only appreciable flaw. Thank goodness the seller, Brian Sanders, resisted the urge to restore it...

When I first ventured into this hobby, reference books were difficult to come by. Many of us are familiar with the curate's eggs of Bowman: Volumes 1 & 2, and Johansson, and, if we were fortunate, the solid efforts of Larcade and Lainé. Several impressive references have been published since...

I acquired this Sachsen Fähnrich Feldartillerie Kugelhelm a while back and never got around to photographing it. The gewölbt other ranks star is fairly arresting. The Rosetten with screw posts (employed on Modelle 1856 through 1871) are also of interest. Chas

Never seen this before. It sounds ominous… This link will explain: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/insecure-password-warning-firefox?as=u&utm_source=inproduct" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Chas

My latest find is SmugMug. Though I am loathe to endorse a product during a free trial, I have been extremely impressed with the interface and customer care. They don't know me from Adam, but I have been greatly assisted by Heather, a SmugMug "support hero," via email. There is no annoying...

Can anyone recommend a reasonable alternative to (ugh) Photobucket? I see I am now required to pay for the privilege of third party hosting. I will not pay $400.00 per year to share photos on this or any other forum. Sorry, but I'd rather invest the money in collectibles. Every photo I have...

I suppose this qualifies as a period photograph because it was taken by my father in 1958 whilst he was stationed in Bamberg, Germany. It is a scanned enlargement of a 35mm Kodachrome slide. I have no inkling as to the significance of the parade, but I wonder if any of these masques have...

Always looking to add to my modest collection of Kaiserliche Marine artifacts, I acquired this Schirmmütze from Herr Weitze at the 2015 MAX: It is one of the nicest white tops I have handled. The crown is a fine wool doeskin and the interior is silk. The calfskin sweatband is perforated...

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt! Though I saw this at the SOS, I passed it over when I fell in love with the L.I.R. 115, which I shared HERE recently. Nevertheless, the more I thought about it, the more I felt this helmet also deserved a good home. #-o As ever the case with regiments bearing a FUERST...

I'm not really certain where to post this. It is a "latest find," but the Mods are free to move it to a more appropriate discussion if required. I'm not really equipped to photograph uniforms, but I wanted to share this Canadian made Lieutenant's cuff rank Service Dress jacket with our...

This was an SOS pickup. I had been wanting one of these for ages to complement my Hessen Leib-Dragoner-Regt. Pickelhaube. Please click HERE for details regarding that helmet. However, I never seemed to find a specimen to my liking — or one that suited my budget. I may have taxed the budget...

… Kaiser Franz Joseph von Österreich, König von Ungarn (that's a mouthful). Not from the SOS, but it does represent one of my "later" finds — an M1894 other ranks Tschapka from UR17. What I really like about this piece is the lavish Stempelung in the interior. The Tschapka liner features the...

In recent years, my interests have shifted to collecting items that are researchable. For the most part, this means British campaign medals and medal groups, which come with some provenance. I have experienced a great deal of success using Ancestry, Find My Past, The National Archives, The...