WW1 / WW2 / 20th Century

A Most Rare Set Of 12 Original Photographs Of The General Nobile 1928 Polar Airship Expedition

Original Polar Expeditions collectables are most highly desirable and we have been delighted to acquire two such connected lots. These are 12 original photographic postcards, published at the time, by two publishers, Traldi and Ballerini & Fratini. For example one is entitled "La Spedizione Nobile - 11 - Esplorazioni di Alpini."
Ed. A. Traldi, Milan, n.d. c. 1928. and another "General Nobile to edge of Italy before leaving."
Umberto Nobile January 21, 1885 ? July 30, 1978) was an Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships during the Golden Age of Aviation between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembered for designing and piloting the airship Norge, which may have been the first aircraft to reach the North Pole, and which was indisputably the first to fly across the polar ice cap from Europe to America. Nobile also designed and flew the Italia, a second polar airship; this second expedition ended in a deadly crash and provoked an international rescue effort.The N-class airship Italia was slowly completed and equipped for Polar flight during 1927-28. Part of the difficulty was in raising private funding to cover the costs of the expedition, which finally was financed by the city of Milan; the Italian government limited its direct participation to providing the airship and sending the aging steamer Citt? di Milano as a support vessel to Svalbard, under the command of Giuseppe Romagna.

This time the airship used a German hangar at Stolp en route to Svalbard and the mast at Vads? (Northern Norway). On May 23, 1928, after an outstanding 69 hour long flight to the Siberian group of Arctic islands, the Italia commenced its flight to the North Pole with Nobile as both pilot and expedition leader. On May 24, the ship reached the Pole and had already turned back toward Svalbard when it ran into a storm. On May 25, the Italia crashed onto the pack ice less than 30 kilometres north of Nordaustlandet (Eastern part of Svalbard). Of the 16 men in the crew, ten were thrown onto the ice as the gondola was smashed; the remaining six crewmen were trapped in the buoyant superstructure as it ascended skyward due to loss of the gondola; the fate of the six men was never resolved. One of the ten men on the ice, Pomella, died from the impact; Nobile suffered a broken arm, broken leg, broken rib and head injury; Cecioni suffered two badly broken legs; Malmgren suffered a severe shoulder injury and suspected injury to a kidney; and Zappi had several broken ribs.

The crew managed to salvage several items from the crashed airship gondola, including a radio transceiver, a tent which they later painted red for maximum visibility, and, critically, packages of food and survival equipment which quick-witted engineer Ettore Arduino had managed to throw onto the ice before he and his five companions were carried off to their deaths by the wrecked but still airborne airship envelope and keel. As the days passed, the drifting sea ice took the survivors towards Foyn and Broch islands.

A few days after the crash the Swedish meteorologist Malmgren and Nobile's second and third in command Mariano and Zappi decided to leave the immobile group and march towards land. Malmgren, who was injured, weakened and reportedly still depressed over his meteorological advice that he felt contributed to the crash, asked his two Italian companions to continue without him. These two were picked up several weeks later by the Soviet icebreaker "Krasin". However there were persistent rumors that Malmgren was killed and cannibalized by Zappi and Mariano

They would look incredible suitably bespoke framed [with UV protected glass]  read more

Code: 18032

Greek War Medal 1940-41, Greek Italian War, Battle of Crete

Awarded to Greek and Allied forces that fought agianst the Germans in Crete Battle of Crete 1941 and in Albania, Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus against the Italians.

The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, also Unternehmen Merkur, "Operation Mercury", Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης) was fought during the Second World War on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an airborne invasion of Crete. Greek and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After only one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation, and German offensive operations, Maleme Airfield in western Crete fell, enabling the Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions on the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast. More than half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy and the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance. The defence of Crete evolved into a costly naval engagement; by the end of the campaign the Royal Navy's eastern Mediterranean strength had been reduced to only two battleships and three cruisers.

The Battle of Crete was the first occasion where Fallschirmjäger (German paratroops) were used en masse, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine,and the first time German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. Due to the number of casualties and the belief that airborne forces no longer had the advantage of surprise, Adolf Hitler became reluctant to authorise further large airborne operations, preferring instead to employ paratroopers as ground troops. In contrast, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to form airborne-assault and airfield-defence regiments.  read more

Code: 24329

WW2 Third Reich Customs Officials Shoulder Board

A WW2 Third Reich Customs (Zoll) Official epaulette. The Green & silver epaulette with silver and green inner sections, on a green wool field. Metal 'RZD' (Reichszolldienst) monogram .Zollgrenzschutz (ZGS) (lit. 'Customs Border Guards') was an organization under the German Finance Ministry from 1937 to 1945. It was charged with guarding Germany's borders, acting as a combination Border Patrol and Customs & Immigration service.

In Nazi Germany it was formed in 1937 by Fritz Reinhardt, a State Secretary of the Finance Ministry. It came to comprise about 50,000 officials. The Border Police (Grenzpolizei), which had the tasks of passport and border control, was different from the Customs Border Guards (Zollgrenzschutz).

Heinrich Himmler tried to bring the Zollgrenzschutz under the control of the Schutzstaffel (SS), which was unsuccessful at first. During the war, the units were used in occupied territories outside of Germany. A significant portion of younger officials were recruited to the Wehrmacht, leaving the Zollgrenzschutz with older men. After the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler, the units were taken out of the control of the Finance Ministry and placed under Amt IV (Gestapo) of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)

Photo in the gallery of Oberzollrat of the Zollgrenzschutz [far left] with Field Marshal Ernst Rommel [middle]  read more

Code: 19481

WW2 Kriegsmarine Oberbootsmann (Chief Petty Officer) Shoulder Board

The Kriegsmarine's most famous ships were the U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. Wolfpacks were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic but this tactic was largely abandoned in the second half of the war. Along with the U-boats, surface commerce raiders (including auxiliary cruisers) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer and the battleship Bismarck. However, the adoption of convoy escorts, especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of commerce raiders against convoys.

After the Second World War, the Kriegsmarine's remaining ships were divided up amongst the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping. **Shown with an anchor button for illustrative purposes only, not including button  read more

Code: 19795

Set of German WW2 Revierforster Rank Collar Tabs

This is a set of third reich period German Revierforster rank shoulder boards in the Forestry Service, a favourite of Reich Marshal Goring. The tabs are constructed forest-green woolen backer. The obverse of the tabs are ordained with extremely fine, high quality, silver aluminum twisted wire in the shape of two vertically positioned oak leaves in the centre of the tab, with a twig of three leafs in the bottom left and right corners. Both tabs are edged on all four sides with fine quality twisted wire fastened to the sides using invisible green threads.  read more

Code: 20884

A Superb, Solid Silver Gilt and Enamel Royal Antediluvian Order Of Buffaloes Order Of Merit

Hallmarked silver with fine mint enamelling and silk ribbon, known within the order as a jewel. The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) was one of the largest fraternal organisations in the United Kingdom. The order started in 1822 and is known as the Buffs to members.

The RAOB organisation aids members, their families, dependents of former members and other charitable organisations. The order has a Rule Book, Manual of Instruction and Ceremony Lectures issued and revised by the Grand Lodge of England based at Harrogate in England. The 'lodge' description for branch organisation and headquarters was adopted in imitation of Freemasonry but RAOB is completely open in its objectives, activities and ritual. The RAOB was begun in the Harp Tavern (opposite the Drury Lane Theatre) by the artist Joseph Lisle and comedian William Sinnett along with other stage hands and theatre technicians in August 1822. It drew its then name of The Buffaloes from a popular song of the time We?ll chase the Buffalo. This first meeting is historically the Phoenix Lodge No.1. As members toured the country with various shows lodges were opened in other towns.

The Order's motto "No Man Is At All Times Wise" (Latin: Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit) and has the maxim of "Justice, Truth and Philanthropy".  read more

Code: 19115

Rare, Complete and Original, Triumph Magazine Portfolio of Flying

Original 1930's issue. Softcover, in exceellent condition, about 3.5 x 5.25 inches but folds out to about 14 x 5.25 inches, folds out to 4 panels with each panel have two small booklets (about 3 x 2 inches each), each booklet contains 7 small b&w photos or illustrations, the booklets are as follows: Queer Aircraft ( glider plane; Westland-Hill Pterodactyl 3 seater; Northrop Beta monoplane; Focke Wulf; Cierva autogiro; seaplane; mono-spar 3 seater ), ---All in a Days Flying ( iceberg patrol; aerial mountie gets his man; stemming the stampede; answering an SOS; Air Mail; the flying shop (delivering goods to natives); rescuing stranded mountaineers ) ---Trail Blazers of the Air ( Charles Lindbergh; Richard Byrd; J A Mollison; Charles Kingsford-Smith; Bert Hinkler; Amy Johnson; Alan Cobham ) ---Stunting in Space ( wing walkers, acrobats, dare devils; etc ) ---War Hawks ( a zeppelin hunter; machine gunning the artillery; dog fight; British blimp bombs a submarine; destroying an observation balloon; etc) ---Great Gas Bags ( the Graf zeppelin; Picard's Stratosphere balloon; USS Akron; jumping balloon; Spanish observation balloon; American airship moored; a plane carrying airship ) ----Guardians of the Empire's Airways ( fighter taking off from aircraft carrier Furious; 20 ton RAF monoplane; Blackburn Napier torpedo plane; desert patrol; loading a bomber; getting an RAF searchlight ready; catapulting a plane from a submarine ) ---Planes of all Nations ( Belgian fighter; british 38 seaterand Puss Moth; French Paris to London liner; Italian S.55 flying boat; Junker; Swiss Dornier Do-X; American military transport plane ),  read more

Code: 18200

Belgium's First Airship the Belgique, A Bronze Plaquette, by D Weygers of Louis Godard's Airship 'Belgique' Circa 1910

Most rare early aeronautical medal of one of the very earliest airships, from Belgium, issued by the towns of d’Auderghem and Watermael-Boitsfort.

It depicts a semi-draped nude figure holding informative scroll, looking up at the airship, 52mm x 70mm. Engraved on the reverse Souvenir of the Derigible 'Belgique' the type of construction by Louis Godard. The "Belgique" was a 4.200m3 airship constructed by Louis Goddard at Paris and used by the Service Aérostatique from 1910 onwards.

The Belgique III was in fact the third extensive modification of the basic Belgique airship previously owned by Mrs. Goldschmidt and Solvay, who donated the machine to King Albert. Transferred to the Compagnie d'Aérostiers du Génie, the Belgique III was used up to September 1914 from Wilrijk, Antwerp. When the Germans took this town, the machine was disassembled and transported to France.

Still manned by the Belgian Commandant Soucy, the Belgique III was equipped with the gondola of the vedette Zodiac to become the VZ 5 based at La Rochelle and later Rochefort for coastal surveillance duties.

The VZ 5 having been operational until at least 1919 was offered back to Belgians but the government didn't have any use for an airship anymore.  read more

Code: 24175

Early War M1910 Feldgrau & Wine Red Wool Cloth Representing the Colours of a Prussian Uhlans Lancers Regiment

The very same form of Imperial German army cap worn by Adolf Hitler in WW1 [see photos] A rare survivor of early WW1 German trench warfare head dress of 1914. In super condition with no mothing. The cockades used during WW1 to represent the National colours and Prussian state was black and white, and the upper cockade, red, white and black.
The type of cap worn by. Adolf Hitler is shown in a photo in the gallery wearing his very same type of cap, while serving as a gefreiter in the trenches in WW1. The infantry Mutze was adorned with two roundels (Kokarden) sewn one over the other. The upper Kokarde was known as the Deutsche or Reichs Kokarde, and it was painted in the national colors of red-white-black. The lower Kokarde was painted in the State colours and was known as the Landeskokarde. 1897 Reich's Kokarde
In 1897 a new Reich's Kokarde in Red/White/Black was introduced for all ranks to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kaiser Wilhelm 1st. The Reich's Kokarde was to be worn on the right side of the Pickelhaube, and worn centered between the band and the top row of piping on Kratzchen (Feldmutze)The lower Kokarde was painted in the State colors and was known as the Landeskokarde, and is based in Schlesien - a Prussian State Because the Krätzchen was a vital link in the rather complicated unit colour-coding system, it had a wide-range of colour combinations for the band and piping. A wide coloured band in combination with piping at the cap’s top, and sometimes on the band, indicated the wearer’s branch, or in the cavalry’s case, regiment. It sounds simple, yet the almost endless colour-coding made it so complicated it had little utility. For example, all infantrymen would have a poppy red band and piping. Various shades of red band and piping would also apply to certain regiments of Dragoons, Uhlans, Schwere Reiter and Chevaulegers. Some cavalry regiments, such as Hussars and Cuirassiers, would have their own unique unit colour combination. Certain branches of the army would wear the identical colour combination, such as the technical branches, including engineers, field artillery and transport troops (black band with red piping). This cap has wine red coloured band and piping which usually denotes an Uhlan Regt. The cotton lining is good and complete but the interior wear marks have worn away the interior black regimental ink stamps.  read more

Code: 23679

Officer's Kriegsmarine Visor Cap Eagle Wreath and Cockade

(Schirmmutze Adler, Eichenlaubkranz und Korkade)

Visor caps were a standard item for all personnel during the Third Reich period and regulations dictated the form of dress they were to be worn with based on the individuals rank. Officer and senior NCO ranks could purchase their caps from the army clothing depots but were also permitted to wear privately purchased visor caps of higher quality. The Kriegsmarine adopted wear of the new national eagle on the front of the headgear and the right breast of the uniform on March 24th 1934. Originally Kriegsmarine personnel wore the Weimar Reichsheer pattern oak-leaf wreath and cockade until a new more detailed pattern wreath and cockade were introduced in March 1935. The insignia consists of a separate national eagle and a wreathed cockade. Nice quality hand embroidered national eagle in gilt wire threads with navy blue accent threads on a cut-out navy blue wool base.
the wreathed cockade is die struck gilt metal with separate red grey and black centre cockade. both in excellent condition for age.  read more

Code: 24235