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Post Your Oddities
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06-01-2011 8:27pm#1Most of us have something that does not quite fit into any theme - an oddity so to speak but something usually with an interesting tale behind it. So this thread is to post your oddities whatever they may be!
Here is mine - the Ukrainian Liquidator medal.
This medal was awarded to the rescue teams that took part in the first days of the cleanup of the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear accident in history. Many of them died from exposure to lethal levels of radiation or developed diseases in later years.
I saw an interview with one of these people before and he was asked did he know it was dangerous. he said that officially they were not told but each man knew that it was potentially a one way trip, which makes their efforts all the more remarkable.2
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HS,
Good idea to start a thread like this, and thanks for posting the Ukrainian Liquidator medal.
(BTW, here's a very interesting site that is somewhat related to the theme, it's well worth reading through to the end - some very haunting images)
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/chapter1.html
This would be one of my 'oddities' - it's not exactly a militaria item, but it has a connection. I'm not a coin collector, but I like the story behind these coins. I know that it's condition is poor, but I didn't buy it for its resale value but just to have as a historical artifact.
This is a piece of what is known as 'Gunmoney'... it's a James II shilling from June 1690.
James II was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was overthrown in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians with an invading army led by the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange - his son in law).
He was declared to have forfeited the throne and was replaced not by his Catholic son, James Francis Edward, but by his Protestant daughter, Mary II, and the son-in-law, William III. William and Mary became joint rulers in 1689.
He made one serious attempt to recover his crowns, when he landed in Ireland in 1689 but, having no money to pay an army, he issued this coinage in brass which came from melted down cannons and other sources including church bells.
Intended as a 'token' coinage, it was dated by month as well as year so that it could be redeemed by James after he regained the English throne in the order in which it had been issued.
James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, and as a result this coinage was discontinued, and it was then considered an offense to have one of these in your possession.
(Apologies for the large images)
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Here is one from my collection to keep the thread going - not that odd really just that I never really followed it up with expanding the Franco-Prussian War Medal side of things. I currently own just 2 different Franco Prussian War medals (as well as some paperwork and certs) despite finding this war very interesting I just never felt all that compelled to collect from it. I possibly will move into this area at some future point as this is the war that helped shape the pre-WW1 europe. Re this medal it's always stiking how Metz remains to strategic during WW1 and then WW2 70 yrs later.
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HerrScheisse wrote: »That is an interesting site Dan - very spooky images. I imagine it must be very eerie travelling through there with hardly a soul to see.
I was watching a documentary a few weeks ago about the tours that you can take to the site to see the ghost city. They were saying that the radiation naturally starts to sink down into the ground becoming safer over the years. But then dignitries go to visit they have spruch the place up a bit so they weed and dig up the flower beds, grass areas etc- bringing the radiation back to the surface!
I don't know if you would call these oddities or not, but I will post them here anyway. They are not as interesting or as rare as the above but they still have meaning to me.
My Uncle joined the RAF in 1945 and retired from it in 1969. When I was a young kid he gave me his Morse Code training kit. Luckily even as a kid I kept it pristine comdition which I am glad of today.
Christmas cards that he sent back home during the 1950s and 1960s from different RAF bases that he was stationed in:
Then from my Dad, he was in the FCA during and after "The Emergency" or "WW2" as the rest of the world referred to it as!
Beret badge and cloth ranking stars
His brass button polisher.
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HerrScheisse wrote: »1690...I do not have anything that old yet! I was trying to get my hands on some "Notgeld" from Westphalia, in particular the 50 million Mark coin but did not come across a good condition one at the right price yet.
:eek:
i got one off ebay a while back, great big lump of a coin. The coin beside it is my personal favourite, Stadt Düren 10 pfenning coin, you can get them for a euro on ebay.
the bottom coins are from Danzig (g'Dansk).
i collected a few german coins before collecting photos.
Note the image has been resized to make it smaller, so they arent actual size in the picture
The last banknotes of Saddam
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I really like that Saddam note- that is some piece of history.
My slugs:
1. British musket ball found in Waterloo, Belgium. Napoleonic War 1815
2. 0.577 inch bullet from a Henry Martini rifle from the Zulu or Boer War. Found in South Africa during the 1960s. 1879-1902
3. 0.455 inch WW1 pistol round from my grandfathers Smith & Wesson revolver. 1914-1918
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thats a boyscout beret badge, is it not?
To be honest I never really asked much about them as he gave them to me as a kid. And I presumed the whole lot were FCA- and I never looked into any further. I will have to ask him, but I never thought that he was in the boy scouts. .... Interesting....!
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Some interesting stuff so far. I see a few things I would like to have
Heres another from me - the Rhine Army Cross. Odd in that it is an occupation of a buffer region during peacetime rather than the entire country. After WW1, allied forces were stationed in the Rhineland as part of the Versailles Treaty. This area was also demilitarised to form a buffer zone. No German troops were permitted in this region.
in 1936, Hitler sent his troops into the Rhine in what was his first major gamble. They were instructed to turn back if they met any resistance. The allies did nothing and the Rhineland was swiftly re-occupied. Makes you wonder what would have happened if they were stopped. Probably just a delay to the inevitable.
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MedalFuhrer wrote: »To be honest I never really asked much about them as he gave them to me as a kid. And I presumed the whole lot were FCA- and I never looked into any further. I will have to ask him, but I never thought that he was in the boy scouts. .... Interesting....!
its the same badge i had in CBSI, which no longer exists.
the one star private badges have been out of use for some time, the three star still very much in use, worn with the two stars at bottom and the third star pointing upwards.0 -
HerrScheisse wrote: »
I like that cross!its the same badge i had in CBSI, which no longer exists.
the one star private badges have been out of use for some time, the three star still very much in use, worn with the two stars at bottom and the third star pointing upwards.
You are right! A quick check on Uncle Google shows that it is a Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland beret badge. I just have to ask my Da about it now. There is so much that I don't know about his life back then.
That makes two Scouting items I have then!! I have this CBSI beret badge and the Polish Scouts & Girl Guides(the ZHP) Cross of Merit.
This is the highest decoration of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP). The order was awarded to members of the ZHP for heroic acts. I have the Silver Cross of Merit. (also came in Gold and Bronze).
In 1939 Nazi Germany and red U.S.S.R. invaded Poland. They then branded the ZHP as criminals and the organisation was made illegal. Nazi Germany executed many Scouts and Guides, along with other possible resistance leaders, but the ZHP carried on as a clandestine organization.
The Soviet Union held the Boy Scouts that they had captured during the invasion at Ostashkov Prison. But then in 1940 they decided to execute them all.
The Scouts became nicknamed the Szare Szeregi (Grey Ranks) and cooperated with the Polish underground state and the Armia Krajowa resistance. The older Scouts carried out sabotage and armed resistance. The Girl Guides formed auxiliary units working as nurses, liaisons and munitions carriers. At the same time the youngest Scouts were involved in so-called small sabotage under the auspice of the Wawer Organization, which included dropping leaflets or painting the kotwica sign on the walls. During “Operation Tempest”, and especially during the Warsaw Uprising, the Scouts participated in the fighting, and several Szare Szeregi units were some of the most effective in combat.
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Just a few from a pile of Imperial German postcards I picked up a while back....
Scanned at high resolution - click twice to zoom in.
A serious amount of Pickelhaubes
(and no awards yet worth mentioning)...
field hospital:
Ravaged landscape:
That must have been some artillery barrage to create the landscape in that last picture.0 -
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HerrScheisse wrote: »I'm so jealous
Is that an original logbook with it also?
It was my grand uncles medal, the paper is his military pensions certificate. He died in 1942 and his family were presented with this handmade embroidered memorial on a piece of linen bedsheet, which was made by some of his comrades who were interned at the time.
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The Beret badge is the CBSI scouts badge.
The rank flashes, was not aware of one star rank, thought it started at two star pte....anyone know? I should, I myself was in the FCA, but I went two, three pte to Cpl then. Love the button stick, had one lost it.( yes...I'm old enough to have had brass buttons..:rolleyes:.)...almost looks like they banged them out on the badge die, wish I could find another 0 -
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