I have this heavy bronze statue of a WWI German soldier on a heavy marble base. The marble base has a bronze plaque attached that indicates this statue was given to "Hauptmann E. Rommel" in 1917 by the officer corps of the "WÜRTTEMBERG GEB. BATT." The bronze with base stands about 13" high, and the bronze is artist-signed by "A. Kaan". This item was found in an antique store over 30 years ago, and a letter was sent to Manfred Rommel (Erwin Rommel's son) at that time asking if he remembered it. He didn't, but said it may have been given to his father and kept at his father's officer's club. Does anyone have any information, or any period photos on the presentation of this statue?
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Honestly, I don't like the plaque, the engraving does not look period and their are subtle problems with the grammar.
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100% agree.Originally posted by VtwinVince View PostHonestly, I don't like the plaque, the engraving does not look period and their are subtle problems with the grammar.
Nice statue....but, OMG that engraving
Firstly, the engraving is very amateurish. It looks like it was done with a nail and a hammer. It certainly doesn't look like an engraver's chisel was used. I highly doubt that a contemporary engraver would use all caps as this is a no-no for a typographer. All caps is easier to do and hides a lot of sins. Personally, I would like to see something like this engraved in Kurrentschrift. Although, that's no guarantee of originality either. But, at least it would be more convincing. Also there's no consistency in the lettering. Some letters have serifs that are not even the same style and other letters don't have serifs at all.
Grammer problems - German's not my first language. But, I studied it for 5 years and spend a lot of time reading WW I era writing. So, these are my thoughts on the errors. I might be a little off, too. Or, there may be others that some of our German members can spot.
1/ Unserem Kompanie Fuhrer (missing the umlaut in FÜHRER) should probably be Unser Kompanieführer or possibly Kompanie-Führer. Führer is masculine (i.e. Unser Führer) so Our Leader (direct address) should not have 'em' on the end (indirect address), UNSEREM indicates an incomplete phrase like VON UNSEREM FÜHRER (from our leader) which wouldn't make any sense here. Technically it should be Unserer, but is usually shortened to Unser because it's easier to pronounce.
If it was supposed to be "To Our Company Leader" then it would be An unseren Kompanie-Führer or Kompanieführer.
2/ In Dankbarkeit is OK, but seems awkward to me and a little less formal. I would prefer Aus Dankbarkeit
3/ Württemberg Geb. Batt. should probably be Württembergische Geb.-Batt. or Württ.-Geb.-Batt.
4/ The Ü in WÜRTTEMBERG would likely be engraved with the upper case U being shortened to accomodate the umlaut (something like WüRTTEMBERG) so that the umlaut was flush with the top of the letters. The same is true for FÜHRER. It would likely be something like FüHRER.
5/ '7' in 1917. This is a stylistic choice. '7' could have been used. But, I would be more convinced if it was '7' with a slanted slash in the lower middle of the decending stem.Last edited by Brian L.; 03-01-2020, 10:00 PM.Comment
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Like you, I believe the plate is bad, but “unserem” is in fact correct. It means “to our”.Originally posted by bolewts58 View Post100% agree.
Nice statue....but, OMG that engraving
Firstly, the engraving is very amateurish. It looks like it was done with a nail and a hammer. It certainly doesn't look like an engraver's chisel was used. I highly doubt that a contemporary engraver would use all caps as this is a no-no for a typographer. All caps is easier to do and hides a lot of sins. Personally, I would like to see something like this engraved in Kurrentschrift. Although, that's no guarantee of originality either. But, at least it would be more convincing. Also there's no consistency in the lettering. Some letters have serifs that are not even the same style and other letters don't have serifs at all.
Grammer problems - German's not my first language. But, I studied it for 5 years and spend a lot of time reading WW I era writing. So, these are my thoughts on the errors. I might be a little off, too. Or, there may be others that some of our German members can spot.
1/ Unserem Kompanie Fuhrer (missing the umlaut in FÜHRER) should probably be Unser Kompanieführer or possibly Kompanie-Führer. Führer is masculine (i.e. Unser Führer) so Our Leader (direct address) should not have 'em' on the end (indirect address), UNSEREM indicates an incomplete phrase like VON UNSEREM FÜHRER (from our leader) which wouldn't make any sense here. Technically it should be Unserer, but is usually shortened to Unser because it's easier to pronounce.
If it was supposed to be "To Our Company Leader" then it would be An unseren Kompanie-Führer or Kompanieführer.
2/ In Dankbarkeit is OK, but seems awkward to me and a little less formal. I would prefer Aus Dankbarkeit
3/ Württemberg Geb. Batt. should probably be Württembergische Geb.-Batt. or Württ.-Geb.-Batt.
4/ The Ü in WÜRTTEMBERG would likely be engraved with the upper case U being shortened to accomodate the umlaut (something like WüRTTEMBERG) so that the umlaut was flush with the top of the letters. The same is true for FÜHRER. It would likely be something like FüHRER.
5/ '7' in 1917. This is a stylistic choice. '7' could have been used. But, I would be more convinced if it was '7' with a slanted slash in the lower middle of the decending stem.
Kind regards,
SandroComment
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Thanks for the correction Sandro. I wasn't sure about my assessment on that one. Article word endings still sometimes confuse me.Originally posted by GdC26 View PostComment
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The big problem is the wording of the regiment, as well as the other issues listed above.Comment
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Thank you for your opinions on the statue and presentation plaque. I appreciate your input. The plaque appears to have been there a long time, but that's about all I can say.Comment
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You said it was found "over 30 years ago", which puts it in the late 1980s: not exactly that long ago. The 1980s was when the modern collecting boom really took off with lots of collectors, big shows and subsequently lots of elaborate, serious fakery or enhancement beginning to happen.Originally posted by honest abe View Post
Clearly someone found a nice original statue and decided to jazz it up for what would be, if authentic dramatically more money.Comment
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gramatically the text is correct, also if it is not the best. But an engraver isn't necessarily a recipient of the nobel price for literature.
However there is one thing that really bothers me and that is the abbrevation of "battalion". Other than in english, the german expression of battalion is just with one "t" and with two "l", hence Bataillon. The abrevation of Batt is therefore incorrect and should rather be "Btl" or "Bat".
All in all I don't think that the engraving is "original".Comment
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I agree with StefaK.'s arguments! He is correct.
GerdanComment
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Unserem (Dativ) is correct.
Just like Stefan, I don't like the "Batt." that rather sound like "Batterie".
Regards
GillesComment
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There should be a period after Wuerttemberg, since normally it would be an abbreviation of 'Wuerttembergisches', but that makes no sense, since battalion is spelled 'bataillon' in German.
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Correct - and the proper abbreviation would be: "WÜRTT."Originally posted by VtwinVince View PostThere should be a period after Wuerttemberg, since normally it would be an abbreviation of 'Wuerttembergisches', but that makes no sense, since battalion is spelled 'bataillon' in German.
I agree with all the comments so far -The dubious plaque seems to be added to increase the value of an otherwise very nicely executed and attractive statue.
Here are some pages from a Militaer=Pass of a soldier serving in that unit.Comment
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