DDR's men's Rings

[torstenbel]

Thanks for all the info. This has become an interesting thread.

From the responses so far, I would conclude that the soldiers of the DDR did not purchase and wear military branch rings with the same fervor as did the military personnel of the TR. To me it seems that even American troops were more enthusiastic about displaying their service on their fingers! This kind of surprises me. Was it considered too "decadent" to display rings - too western?

don't think that it has anything to do with western decadence ... just kind of not the done thing in east germany for men to wear rings .... I would not have worn one if they had been available ...

[Dallasfan]

Just to be 100% clear, I didn't intend to "diss" the ring, I was just expressing my own subjective opinions, and completely respect the position of those who think the ring is the most beautiful thing ever made. Regardless of anyone's views on that, I think it can be agreed that historic significance trumps aesthetics BY FAR with this piece.

Pardon me for asking, and of course don't answer unless you wish to, but I'd be very curious as to what the offered price on such an item would have been.

Hi

I dont consider that ring the most beautiful thing ever made , but
its like you said an ring of historical significance .
About that price , I promised that guy that I would keep it to myself .
Here is a beautiful silver ring with golden symbols , its one of the few
items I kept after selling my TR collection .
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Regards , Johan

[Dag]

Thanks for all the info. This has become an interesting thread.

From the responses so far, I would conclude that the soldiers of the DDR did not purchase and wear military branch rings with the same fervor as did the military personnel of the TR. To me it seems that even American troops were more enthusiastic about displaying their service on their fingers! This kind of surprises me. Was it considered too "decadent" to display rings - too western?

We could not purchase/wear them because they were simply not available. Furthermore, the time serving in the army was for everyone who did not join the for more than the required 18 month a necessity, nothing to show off.
Would I wear one? No, definitely not. But that is a matter of personal preference and taste. I know what I did, I'm 'proud of what I did but I don't have to show it off wearing a ring/bracelet chain etc.

I might have been down to the idea that the NVA was a People Army to protect the country and that it did not matter in which branch you served. Whilst serving, you were expected to pay the highest price, if necessary.
For this alone every soldier should be respected and, in my opinion, should be proud of.
As a matter of fact, the idea of one unit being more praised than the other in public did not happen. And it could not happen simply because the various units were, in 1989 , max 40 years old, if you count in the years prior to 1956. So was no real 'history'. I don't know how this was handled in other WP armies with the exception of the Soviet Army, many units had a long history going back to the Great Patriotic war and the attitude of many soldiers to the history of the unit was often different. I think that this was mainly down to the fact that nearly all families were affected by the war (something which is still obvious today).
But I do not know if they had rings or any other items to show which unit/branch they belonged to.

[torstenbel]

Hi

I dont consider this ring the most beautiful thing ever made , but
its like you said an ring of historical significance .
About that price , I promised that guy that I would keep it to myself .
Here is beautiful silver ring with golden symbols , its one of the few
items I kept after selling my TR collection .:

Hi Johan, that is still a beautiful ring and it looks even more impressive in real life ... I only notice the Italian, German and Spanish fashist symbols on it now ... was it made in Italy? Cheers, Torsten.

[Dallasfan]

Hi Johan, that is still a beautiful ring and it looks even more impressive in real life ... I only notice the Italian, German and Spanish fashist symbols on it now ... was it made in Italy? Cheers, Torsten.

Hi Torsten

The ring belonged to a german officer who was in action in the Spanish civil war , he had it made there I think .
I bought it in the early nineties from a older german collector , that collector started collecting DDR stuff , he had lots of generals uniforms etc. , at that time I was not interested in that material......
After this collector died several years ago , his so called friends took everything from his widow , this story was told to me by a well known german auctioneer .


Regards , Johan

[Capt. R]

We could not purchase/wear them because they were simply not available. Furthermore, the time serving in the army was for everyone who did not join the for more than the required 18 month a necessity, nothing to show off.
Would I wear one? No, definitely not. But that is a matter of personal preference and taste. I know what I did, I'm 'proud of what I did but I don't have to show it off wearing a ring/bracelet chain etc.

I might have been down to the idea that the NVA was a People Army to protect the country and that it did not matter in which branch you served. Whilst serving, you were expected to pay the highest price, if necessary.
For this alone every soldier should be respected and, in my opinion, should be proud of.
As a matter of fact, the idea of one unit being more praised than the other in public did not happen. And it could not happen simply because the various units were, in 1989 , max 40 years old, if you count in the years prior to 1956. So was no real 'history'. I don't know how this was handled in other WP armies with the exception of the Soviet Army, many units had a long history going back to the Great Patriotic war and the attitude of many soldiers to the history of the unit was often different. I think that this was mainly down to the fact that nearly all families were affected by the war (something which is still obvious today).
But I do not know if they had rings or any other items to show which unit/branch they belonged to.

Men's rings were more popular back in the days of the TR and even in America it seems as many American soldiers and airmen wore service rings. The TR spanned only a brief period of time yet many TR soldiers wore unit rings so I do not think it had anything to do with pride in a longstanding unit tradition per se other than possibly a German military tradition to show membership in a particular unit. Himmler and Goering wore several rings as did their troops. I know that a gerneric skull ring was produced for wear by tankers, SS, etc in the TR period. I guess things were just different in this regard in the DDR.
It seems the DDR trend to copy TR uniform traditions did not extend to the finger rings.

I do find it hard to believe that Stasi or Engels personnel were not considered "more elite" than regular troops, however. All elite units need such an elevated status to attract the best members and to set themselves apart. Did not the barracks police think themselves better than regular police? Didn't the border guard consider themselves somehow more elite than regular army? or how about the tankers? Everyone knows how THOSE guys are! Ask Mr. Gallagher

[Capt. R]

We could not purchase/wear them because they were simply not available. Furthermore, the time serving in the army was for everyone who did not join the for more than the required 18 month a necessity, nothing to show off.
Would I wear one? No, definitely not. But that is a matter of personal preference and taste. I know what I did, I'm 'proud of what I did but I don't have to show it off wearing a ring/bracelet chain etc.

I might have been down to the idea that the NVA was a People Army to protect the country and that it did not matter in which branch you served. Whilst serving, you were expected to pay the highest price, if necessary.
For this alone every soldier should be respected and, in my opinion, should be proud of.
As a matter of fact, the idea of one unit being more praised than the other in public did not happen. And it could not happen simply because the various units were, in 1989 , max 40 years old, if you count in the years prior to 1956. So was no real 'history'. I don't know how this was handled in other WP armies with the exception of the Soviet Army, many units had a long history going back to the Great Patriotic war and the attitude of many soldiers to the history of the unit was often different. I think that this was mainly down to the fact that nearly all families were affected by the war (something which is still obvious today).
But I do not know if they had rings or any other items to show which unit/branch they belonged to.

Men's rings were more popular back in the days of the TR and even in America it seems as many American soldiers and airmen wore service rings. The TR spanned only a brief period of time yet many TR soldiers wore unit rings so I do not think it had anything to do with pride in a longstanding unit tradition per se other than possibly a German military tradition to show membership in a particular unit. Himmler and Goering wore several rings as did their troops. I know that a gerneric skull ring was produced for wear by tankers, SS, etc in the TR period. I guess things were just different in this regard in the DDR.
It seems the DDR trend to copy TR uniform traditions did not extend to the finger rings.

I do find it hard to believe that Stasi or Engels personnel were not considered "more elite" than regular troops, however. All elite units need such an elevated status to attract the best members and to set themselves apart. Did not the barracks police think themselves better than regular police? Didn't the border guard consider themselves somehow more elite than regular army? or how about the tankers? Everyone knows how THOSE guys are! Ask Mr. Gallagher

[Dag]

Well, I'm not quite sure how it works in the US but I now that neither here in the UK nor in Germany the relevant agencies encourage their members to wear any sort of item to make them 'stand out' from the rest. So, the same would have applied to the MfS. What units thought about themselves was another moatter. But in general, the idea of being elite was strongly discouraged.
And, of course, the tankers were the most elite units. I know it - commanded a T-72 myself ;-). The barracks police did not, to my knowledge, see itself as more elite as the normal police. mainly because most of them were conscripts, like in the army. The same with other branches.
Again, the difference may also lie in the fact that it was a conscription based army. The majority of conscripts was keen to get it over and done with. After 18 months, forget about it and keep you fingers crossed that you are not called for any reservists duty, which could be anything from a few days up to three months. Many reservists could suddenly find themselves in a totally different branch of service.

By the way, you are aware the the uniforms of the NVA were supposed to be more like the uniforms of the Red Army? It was only the insistence of high ranking Soviet officers that the NVA is a German army which changed the mind of the powers in charge.

[Wolf100]

Hi Dallasfan, nice ring. I´ve sent you pms and emails. Please read them ;-)

Here is my DDR ring. They are ultrarare!!

[Wolf100]

...

[Wolf100]

,,,,,

[olivyaya]

Humm really looks like a Panzer Quallispange that has been turned into a ring...

[Knuckles930]

Interesting point. Where the ends meet does seem a bit sloppy if it
would had been an honour ring. Also the III seems a bit weird.

It's also a lot thinner than most of the other examples. Specially the seal.

Since I don't have any of these type of badges, I checked Gowen to see
if they had anything like it. They have a Miniature Version.



Which seems quite familiar. I'm sure someone here has a normal version
around also. And than there is the General Version, just to compare the "wings".


Photos from Gowen.

[Wolf100]

Hello gentlemen, the III was my mistake. It is actually 100.

The ringarms go fluently into the ringplate on both sides, so no soldering has been made to transfer a Quallispange to a ring. The seam on the back, where both ringarms meet is just visible on the outside, because of the broad ringarms. On the innerside it is quite good polished an nearly invisible. Imho this little fellow was made as a ring. To respond to the sloppyness. Just remember you see here a magnified picture of the ring. So many things look worser, then they are. In normal size you don´t see any sloppy work.

Just to add, the size is 1,9 cm broad and 2,15 cm high. It weights 15 gramm.

[speedytop]

Hi Wolf100,

there is no 100, it could only be l00l.

But it is definitely I I I



Uwe