A Most Decorative Imperial German WW1 Soldiers Schnapps Flask

This is a superb WW1 German Reservists flask (Reservistenflasche). A glass schnapps flask encased in a decorative enamelled metal jacket, with a lanyard in the black, white, and red colours of the Imperial German Reich. They were made by between 1871 and 1918, for sale to conscripts, wives or sweethearts of soldiers as a memento of their service time. The front and rear of the flask are covered in military themed vignettes, with, a military regimental panel attached to the front, and to the rear a rotating panel surrounded with picture portraits of pretty ladies. The lid is a girl and soldeir in an embrace about a WW1 fighter plane, that turns to become a drinking cup. Named for the 7th Cologne Regt.  read more

Code: 21166

A Superb Sheet of Estonian 10 Penni Stamps Issued In 1919

The first postage stamps of Estonia were issued in November 1918, just a few days after the armistice that ended World War I. Lithographed by Eduard Bergmann in Tartu. The perforated issue of the 10 p. was printed in sheets of 200, arranged in two panes of 100 each, separated by a vertical gutter. No gutter pairs are known. The 5 p. and the imperforate 10 p. were printed in sheets of 400, arranged in four panes of 100 each, separated by gutters. The printer's sheets were cut into four counter panes at the printers. Full printing sheets were distributed only during the early printing of the 5 p. For all three printings of the 5 p. the same litho stone was used. The print is imperfect and often unclear, especially for the third printing.  read more

Code: 21155

Super Scottish Clan Badge Mea Gloria Fides, Griffon Head and Coronet

Silver colour, but not hallmarked. Mea Gloria Fides, Fidelity is my glory. Possibly the Gallagher clan, the Gallagher motto is the same, this the heraldic symbol not normally a griffon.  read more

Code: 21048

British Pre- 1881 XCII 92nd Gordon Highlanders Uniform Cross Belt Badge

Plate (copper lugs) Order of the Thistle Star base with each arm of the saltire bearing three of the regiment?s battle honours, "XCII" to the centre within a thistle wreath surmounted by a crown resting on a scroll inscribed ?Highlanders?, lower section of the star bearing the sphinx on a blank tablet, very crisp detail, 71.3 mm x 95 mm, intact lugs, contact marks and light wear, very fine.  read more

Code: 20973

L'Amerique en Guerre War Airborne Psychological Warfare Leaflet Nov. 1943

No. 75. An original 4 page fold out leaflet/newspaper published by the The Psychological Warfare Division, Supreme Headquarters. Dropped by the 8th Airforce in November 1943. In the European theatre, Allied leaflet operations to the occupied countries are regarded by some as the most effective of the various leaflet campaigns. If a French citizen was found in possession of one these leaflets it could mean immediate imprisonment or even execution. Along side the single-sheet "timeless" leaflets, were news based tracts including newspapers and magazines. The largest number of leaflets was disseminated over France, simply because the country was large with a widely dispersed population. Once British forces had been withdrawn from France it became obvious that the Germans were exerting strict control of the news. If any spirit of resistance was to be kept alive, the French had to receive news and encouragement from Britain and her Allies. Great work was done by the BBC via its radio network but the likely confiscation of radio receivers by the Germans meant that some other way had to found to penetrate the Nazi propaganda wall. The ideal would have been a daily air-disseminated newspaper but this was impracticable due to a shortage of available aircraft and the unpredictability of the weather. It was decided, therefore, to institute a newspaper named Le Courrier de L'air to be dropped at weekly intervals. The first issue was dropped in December 1940 and by the time France was liberated close on 200 editions had been printed. In November 1942, the Americans designed a magazine similar to "Courrier" which was entitled L'Amerique en Guerre and was delivered by American planes until August 1944. Each of the around 100 editions stated "Brought to the French people by the U.S.A.A.F".  read more

Code: 20936

Souvenir de la Revision Classe 1905, 42nd Infantrie 8th Co. 2nd Bn

Republic Francais framed medallion with rosette and print of cavalry. Translation; Remembrance of Class 1905 revision. 42nd Infantry Regiment (42e r?giment d?infanterie or 42e RI) was an infantry regiment of the French Army, raised in 1635 as the 'R?giment de Calvisson'. It was renamed the 1638 : 'R?giment de Montpezat' in 1638 and the 'R?giment du Limousin' in 1684, before first gaining its numeral of 42 in 1791. During the First World War it was nicknamed the 'As de Carreau', since it was part of the 'Division des As' (a nickname for 14th Infantry Division).  read more

Code: 20776

A Fine Prussian Military Honour Medal In Silver 1814.

A large silver medal on its original silk ribbon. King Fredrick William III's Ehrenzeichen (honour medal). The inscription "VERDIENST UM DEN STAAT" (Meritorious Service to the State) which appears in the centre of the medal surrounded by a circular wreath of laurel leaves remained unchanged from its inception in 1814 until 1918. To better appreciate the reason why this particular decoration survived virtually unchanged as a continuous service award for subsequent Prussian kings and German Emperors after Friedrich Wilhelm III's death in 1840, to even include the retention of his initials, it may be helpful to understand the historical importance and context of his rule to the eventual founding of the German Empire.

In furtherance to this, King Frederick William III (1770-1840) succeeded to the throne of Prussia in 1797, at the age of 27, during the French Revolution. Fearful of the possible spread of democratic concepts to Prussia, he attempted to maintain a policy of strict neutrality in the political and military conflicts which were constantly taking place at that time between the new French republic and her bitter enemies in the long standing monarchies of Austria and England. Medal 1.5 inch across. Silver weight 25 grams approx.  read more

Code: 20649

Volunteer Artillery Busby Plume Holder Badge circa 1860 to 1873.

Other ranks nickel badge with slide to the reverse. Following the Crimean War, it was painfully clear to the War Office that, with half of the British Army dispositioned around the Empire on garrison duty, it had insufficient forces available to quickly compose and despatch an effective expeditionary force to a new area of conflict, unless it was to reduce the British Isles' own defences. During the Crimean War, the War Office had been forced to send militia and yeomanry to make up the shortfall of soldiers in the Regular Army. The situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the Home Office until 1855.

Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following the Orsini affair, an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III on 14 January 1858. It emerged that the would-be assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have the bombs used in the attack manufactured in Birmingham. The perceived threat of invasion by the much larger French Army was such that, even without sending a third of the army to another Crimea, Britain's military defences had already been stretched invitingly thin. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire (the Second Italian War of Independence), and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in a wider European conflict  read more

Code: 20595

An American, Goodyear Co. Ashtray Made From Duralumin From Airship Akron

A 1931 souveninir of USS Akron (ZRS-4). Striking and very rare. It was a helium-filled rigid airship of the U.S. Navy which operated between September 1931 and April 1933. She was the world's first purpose-built flying aircraft carrier, carrying F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes which could be launched and recovered while she was in flight. With an overall length of 785 ft (239 m), the Akron and her sister ship the Macon were among the largest flying objects ever built. Although the LZ129 Hindenburg and the LZ130 Graf Zeppelin II were some 18 ft (5.5 m) longer and slightly more voluminous, the two German airships were filled with hydrogen, so the US Navy craft still holds the world record for helium-filled airships.

The Akron was destroyed in a thunderstorm off the coast of New Jersey on the morning of 4 April 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers. This accident involved the greatest loss of life in any airship crash. The airship's skeleton was built of the new lightweight alloy duralumin 17-SRT. The frame introduced several novel features compared with traditional Zeppelin designs. Rather than being single-girder diamond trusses with radial wire bracing, the main rings of the Akron were self-supporting deep frames: triangular Warren trusses 'curled' round to form a ring. Though much heavier than conventional rings, the deep rings promised to be much stronger, a significant attraction to the navy after the in-flight break up of the earlier conventional airships R38/ZR-2 and ZR-1 Shenandoah. The inherent strength of these frames allowed Chief Designer, Dr Karl Arnstein, to dispense with the internal cruciform structure used by Zeppelin to support the fins of their ships. Instead, the fins of the Akron were cantilevered: mounted entirely externally to the main structure. Zeppelin and other rigid designs used a single keel at the lowest point of the hull circumference but Arnstein gave the Akron three keels, one running along the top of the hull and one each side, 45 degrees up from the lower centreline. Each keel provided a walkway running almost the entire length of the ship. The strength of the main rings, the lower keels, and the fact that helium, instead of flammable hydrogen, was to be used, also allowed the designer to mount the engines inside the hull, improving streamlining.  read more

Code: 20454

An NSFK German Flight of 1938 Souvenir Ashtray Of Aeronautical Alloy

The Deutschlandflug 1938 [German Flight] was the largest international aerospace event in the world. The German flight in 1937 was the first large-scale aviation event after the armament of the Wehrmacht and was organized by the National Socialist Air Corps (NSFK). The airmen did not participate individually, but in triple associations, of which 62 were at the start; 61 of these also reached the goal. The associations did not collectively share a previously defined route, but were able to choose their flight route themselves to fly more than 70 established destinations. On four days of the contest, the three groups broke up and the planes flew individually. [8th]

The German Sportflieger stated: "No human life in this competition is to be deplored, which put the highest demands on machines and crew, which also had still Orter tasks and skill tests (target dropping and obstacle landings) after six exhausting flight days" ]

On the German flights of 1934, 1935, and 1937, only three- to seven-aircraft units participated. In 1937, private pilots also launched their own aircraft. The 1938 German Flight was the largest international aerospace event in the world, with some 400 aircraft taking off and spending a total of around 2,500,000 kilometers on eight competitions. In this competition, both the route and the airfields were selected. Due to the inexperience of many pilots as well as bad weather, several serious accidents occurred.

The German flight planned for 1939 no longer came to the rescue. The German flight is a competition for aircraft pilots , which was carried out for the first time from 11 June to 10 July 1911. On the following flights to Germany, pilots took part, whose names should be included in the history of aviation. Names such as Ernst Udet or Elly Beinhorn are featured on the lists. In the time of National Socialism the flights became gigantic performance with up to 400 participating aircraft. The N.S.F.K. (National Socialist Flying Corps) was created in January of 1932, to promote interest in aviation throughout Germany. It was a male dominated association, although females were not discouraged from participating in events. The NSFK was very closely associated with the Hitler Youth (HJ) organization.  read more

Code: 20452