Seeking Information-location of documents

[stogieman]

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[Rick Research]

I'll copy this into the Imperial Forum, since the HUGE amount of paperwork was almost all imperial and not Third Reich.

I remember the entire group being offered about 1977/78 at a price that would now (but not then!) make us weep. The group had been split by about 1991/2 when the commissions appeared first in one of Major Jeff Floyd's catalogs, and then on Manion's.

Splitting groups makes ZERO sense--ZERO, and I congratulate you on your success in reuniting four of the papers again!

[Gene]

If I recall correctly, John Krueger of Military Warehouse in Cambridge, MN, had a lot of Severin's documents for sale about 5 years ago (maybe even longer). I don't know if he keeps records that old (if at all) but you may want to contact him.

[stogieman]

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[Gene]

Try calling him at 1-888-558-7761

[Rick White]

Rick#1 and Rick#2,

I agree wholeheartedly about keeping a group together at (almost) all costs. It is indeed a passion of mine as well. Keep us posted on your search!

Rick#3

[Rick Research]

Rick #3! My own minor stories:

ages ago (1979), I got the award document for the Hungarian WWI Commemorative Medal to a Prussian Foot Artillery Hauptmann, which rather impressed me because his unit was given as "heavy coastal mortar battery..." which I had never heard of before then. He was battery chief of one of those monstrous Skoda mortar batteries, used in the early part of the war to smash tsarist fortresses (his tiny unit was twice cited in the German "Schlachten und Gefechte" for same)...

years passed...

in a now long defunct Imperial collecting magazine, there was an article illustrating the BULGARIAN WWI Commemorative Medal document--to "my" man! I wrote to the author, sent xerox of mine, asked if he was ever going to part with his to let me know, and vice versa...

no reply. None!

long years pass again...

1988--lo and behold, I find that self same Bulgarian document up for sale!

I bought it, naturally.

Now Herr Paul Erich Schneidewind may be of no great earthshaking importance-- I am sure that he made it back no further than Oberst in the Luftwaffe Flak (he was a Major in '38).

But somewhere out there... somewhere, SOMEBODY must have The Rest of his stuff!

I figure I've got another 25 "good" years left that I can wait... hoping!

My friend Neal O'Connor and I each ended up, unknowingly, with parts of the same man's group from the March 1985 Kube auction in Bavaria. As was common, no names on the separately offered documents, so no way to know when groups were, in fact, groups except to see what items the consignors had sent in. I got medal bar, Hohenzollern House Order with Swords Document, and pa-in-law's Ranklist, that both he and Hauptmann aD Walter Krause, ex of Field Artillery Regiment 19 had scribbled in.

Neal got his EK1 document, which had been described only as to an "observer" officer. (He was only on emergency flying fill-in service, "zur Zeit," not a qualified Beobachter with badge.) Comparing notes afterwards, "recent goodies" in, we discovered this--and from sending xeroxes to each other, also that some (probably) long ago naughty Krause child had torn an identical rip across the tops of both documents!

Took me 13 years to pry that out of Neal!

Meanwhile, for something terrific like DM 20 (when it was worth about 33 cents), somebody--as we pieced together the consignor's item numbers--got Krause's KVK 2 civil issue, 1943 document. Much joy must it have given them. Where or where is THAT now, all alone?

Another one: back in July 1981 I got an "almost" complete documents group from Manion's (I think still "The Fox Hole" then) to a Bavarian Foot Artillery char. Major aD named Julius Bielke--some of these ddocuments are posted here on this Forum. Missing his Bavarian XXIV Years Service Cross document, of all things. Got his service records from the Bavarian War Archive, and can even date award of same-- 28 February 1919.

Fast forward to October 1982: FH/M auction. An anonymous, lone Third Reich Civil Service Cross document caught my eye: I knew Bielke had gotten one, and was "watching."

Mind you-- typical (even then!) "description:" no name, date, place. Thank God for the long suffering (and apparently immortal) Al in descriptions. Many times over many years I tortured that poor man trying to get him to read Old German calligraphy. This one was typed: EUREKA! Bielke's!!!

It was MINE....

Now I have "everything" except for the XXIV Yrs Svc Cross document...

21 years... still waiting... still watching.

a Rick-- "Reunifications ARE possible!"

[ 03 January 2002: Message edited by: Rick Lundstrom ]

[jlava]

this the military warehouse you speak of: http://www.milwarehouse.com/

[stogieman]

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