No, not the kind that go arf arf and eat fish. Not the kind that go on missions no one else can handle, either. These are the ones that grease the wheels of bureaucracy. Just got a commission? The good news would come with #1 on the envelope. Or maybe your family has clout and you wind up rubbing elbows with the big dogs, drinking champagne and eating caviar at 2 or 3. But most of us aren't so lucky. 4 and 5 say "Boy, you're goin' to 6." After being intensively (7) trained you might wind up in 8 or 9 eating mud and dodging shrapnel.
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OK, now you pick up your kit from 10. The CO's a little busy running a war, but maybe 11 can help you out. Maybe he'll send you to a nice safe fort 12 where you can see the Kaiserlich USO 13 perform. But be careful drivng through Thorn. The traffic warden 14 is a right bastard.Or maybe you'll get a cushy job like guarding POW's at 15. Then again, maybe they'll issue you a shovel and send you to 16.But if you're not Prussian there's a chance you'll get to join a flash outfit like 17. Or maybe your fate will be decided by 18. -
Screw up and you might require the sevices of 19. Do good and your Albrecht des Bären may come with 20 on the wrapper.Aren't you glad you aren't a southerner who has to put up with 21?Wherever they send you, there you are so you can send letters home from 22 or 23. Or maybe you haven't settled dow. Then your letters will come from 24-26. It all depends on 27.Comment
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Then again, maybe you'll wind up freezing your Esel off at 28-30.All in all it'd be safer than 31 or 32.Comment
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Those are really nifty! Cropped the way you've done with your Amazing Techno-Powers, they remind me of the framed bottle cap collections I've seen.
Not that I have seen ANY of these
colorful 3-D seals... never had a single one turn up in any of my paperwork. HAD a few nice WAX seals in the Dim And Distant, 19th century stuff, but I think only civilian versions left.
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seals
Those are interesting.I've not seen them before except #29.Do you have some reference as to how the feld posts were set up so you can id units they served?I've got a couple hundred love letters sent by one soldier and the feldposts have always been a point of curiosity.Comment
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Just an amazing array of seals. I don't think we have a single 3-D seal except in wax. Great collection and great knowledge to put with them!Comment
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WoW!
Yet again, Tom shows us his amazing skills and patience in cataloguing types.... Reminds me of all your EK2 variation photos! I can't imagine having the patience! Siggghhhhh, or time
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Sorry, Steven. One reason for posting them was the hope that someone would knowOriginally posted by stevenn
Brian, you're right. Here's the real #26
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Sorry, Steven. One of the reasons I posted them was the hope that someone would know.
Brian, You're right. Here's the real #26 Thanks.
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Nice collection of stamps and seals. Unfortunately, stamps aren't worth much when they are cut out...
Although it's often the only possibility to acquire some of the rare ones.
I specialize in stamps and seals from the 4. Armee (and all units attached to it, but only from the dates they were actually serving in it), Kommandanturen and air units.
There are quite a few interesting books about field post and there is even a German WW1 field post collector's association.
Borlinghaus, Horst. Handbuch und Katalog der deutschen Fliegertruppe im 1. Weltkrieg 1914-1918. Jülich.
Schriever, Karl-Heinz. Die deutschen Feldpoststempel 1914-1918. Neue Schriftenreihe der Poststempelgilde "Rhein-Donau" Heft Nr. 64. Düsseldorf, 1967. (extremely interesting, has information - if known - about which field post station belonged to which unit etc.)
There are a few other books about the matter. I'll have a look in my library for them and post the titles if you're interested.
JanComment
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This is a great bit of research here, worth bringing back to the top. Time comes you get lucky and an envelope's got something on it you can't read, at least you can interpret the seal.Comment
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seals
That was great info on the books.Brian is right in his comments about reading the letters.I find the script used looks like a cross- section of the Rocky Mountains and is impossible to read in a lot of cases.One thing I've noticed is that a lot of the letters give the location they were stationed .I've never seen that on Brit or Canadian letters due to the censoring.Comment
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