Until my memory was jogged by Tony's literally microscopic Friedländer mark thread, I had also never given much thought to period wearer REPLACEMENT needle type pins. I'd always just considered them "crude repairs" for pins that fell off.
But as I look at mine now, I begin to suspect that they were NOT all ugly and vulnerable semi-botched fixits (after all THEY are still attached, and the original pins aren't
) but were MADE-- deliberately "after market" MADE with bends and twists and wiggles that are NOT the effect of decades of being banged around, but of considered, deliberate design.
Take a look at this "crude" example. In profile, the needle wire looks like a question mark---> "?" with the upper left acting as spring tension to hold the bent and curved long pin end tightly, yet flexibly against the catch. And with the bend-- which would be longer than the back of the cross if simply straightened out-- when pinned through clothing, the angle admirably resists the sort of straight up and off that Ernst Jünger famously described in his story about having his EK1 unlatch and fall off in No Man's Land in the middle of a charge.
In fact, I'm starting to wonder whether SOME of our needle replacements are not simply "repairs" at all, but deliberate modifications made by wearers who wanted something more secure than the loops 'n latch usual on German pinbacks.
This vaulted example is hallmarked "800." Anybody else with examples to share of NON MANUFACTURED needle pin modifications?
But as I look at mine now, I begin to suspect that they were NOT all ugly and vulnerable semi-botched fixits (after all THEY are still attached, and the original pins aren't
) but were MADE-- deliberately "after market" MADE with bends and twists and wiggles that are NOT the effect of decades of being banged around, but of considered, deliberate design.Take a look at this "crude" example. In profile, the needle wire looks like a question mark---> "?" with the upper left acting as spring tension to hold the bent and curved long pin end tightly, yet flexibly against the catch. And with the bend-- which would be longer than the back of the cross if simply straightened out-- when pinned through clothing, the angle admirably resists the sort of straight up and off that Ernst Jünger famously described in his story about having his EK1 unlatch and fall off in No Man's Land in the middle of a charge.
In fact, I'm starting to wonder whether SOME of our needle replacements are not simply "repairs" at all, but deliberate modifications made by wearers who wanted something more secure than the loops 'n latch usual on German pinbacks.
This vaulted example is hallmarked "800." Anybody else with examples to share of NON MANUFACTURED needle pin modifications?
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