2 Austro-Hungarian Kappenabzeichen

[pavels_2005]

Hi all,

I have this 2 silver Kappenabzeichen for sale. Any idea about the correct pricing before I will post them on estand?

Any opinions welcome.

Best regards
Pavel

[Ironcrown]

Very nice badges, I like them
It's sad to say, but here on WAF there is little to no interest at all about Kappenabzeichen

I already have the Isonzo Armee in my collecton, the brass version cost around 30 euro, the silver one worts more, I would say 60-70 euro (E-bay quotations).

The other is to the 6. Infanterie Division. I don't have in my collection, and don't know exactly how much may wort. I would say more than the other one, but no idea on how much.

Hope this helps

[pavels_2005]

Hi,

thanks a lot for details!

Best regards
Pavel

[Don D.]

Very nice badges, I like them
It's sad to say, but here on WAF there is little to no interest at all about Kappenabzeichen

This is very true unfortunately. I don't think many collectors know the story behind them.

[avensis2000]

I would be more than interested to have a short or long lesson about these on this thread. They are interesting looking and (still) very affordable and what I have seen, there's a huuuuuuuge amount of them to collect

This is very true unfortunately. I don't think many collectors know the story behind them.

[Chip M]

There are literally thousands to collect. I guess the very common ones are relatively cheap, but if you go on German or Austrian ebay, hardly anything sells for less than 35-40 Euro. The Sturmtrupp examples are selling for hundreds of Euros.

I have a collection of about twenty five pieces, but have stopped picking up new items due to the prices. You can still find a bargain at American shows now and then, but that's just because you don't see very many here. The enameled versions are quite beautiful and I like badges just as much for the designs as I do for the unit or rarity.

Chip

[peterm]

I agree with "Ironcrown": less to no interest on this forum for Austro-Hungarian cap-badges... But I really like them!

Kind regards, Peter

[Roglebk]

I would be more than interested to have a short or long lesson about these on this thread.

Me too, all knowledge is good knowledge.

[Don D.]

As would I.

[Chip M]

I would show things from my collection, but I think the Austrians and Italians are the real experts with much larger collections. Let's see if they want to start a thread. I would be happy to join in.

My main interest has been collecting the badges that German troops, who served with the Austrians adopted. They were mostly Bavarians, but some other Germans as well. Based on this contact with the Austrian badges, several German divisions had their own badges made up. If you have the two volume set of Kraus, you have seen a few of them, but there are more. The photographic evidence of Germans wearing these badges is not uncommon, so the proof is out there and I am sure that more will be forthcoming as collectors are realizing that Germans wore this type of badge.

There are some very large collections of Kappenabzeichen here in the States, but they were started years ago when the prices were cheap. I wish now that I had bought more during that time, but there just weren't that many around to be had unless you had a contact in Europe. I got my best badges at the Stuttgart Sammlerbörse back in the early 1980s.

Chip

[Gew44]

On Italy we have some Kappen collector who have a very large collections, same museum and that is feel so much because we had some battlefield on "home" during WWI. (Carso- Montello - Monte Grappa - Dolomiti)
One of these big collectors is Ironcrown, him have a stunning collection and known so good that field.
I hope this my dear friend starting one discussion about these 2 kappen, and him known also a Hungarian idioma very good.

The link below showing one private italian collection, hope this help ant also help to expand the knowledge :http://www.cimeetrincee.it/kappen1.htm

A masive thanks to all

Kinds regards

Gew44/Max

[Chip M]

Max,

Thanks for the link. I was not aware of that. Unfortunately, the images are too small to see much detail.

I use this site when looking things up.

http://www.sammlerecke.at/kap/kapstart.html

It has larger images and is well organized. It does not contain everything, but you get a very good cross-section of the various types.

Perhaps there are other sites that Ironcrown could recommend?

Chip

[Ironcrown]

One of these big collectors is Ironcrown, him have a stunning collection and known so good that field.

Thanks for the good words my friend, but maybe saying "big collector" is too much to qualify me
Let's say that I have a honest collection of austro-hungarian cavalry cap badges. Yes just cavalry, I have others too but my main focus is the cavalry.
Nowadays, with prices going up, getting specialised in one specific field is really necessary if you want to build up a good Kappenabzeichen collection.
There are many possible choices: different corps (cavalry, infantry, artillery, Kriegsmarine), different unit sizes (Armies, divisions, brigades, regiments...) different fronts (Italian, russian, balcanic...), different army (regular army, Honvéd, Landwehr...), particular units (Sturmtruppe, medical, air service, Kaiserjaeger, Feldjaeger), or even badges that commemorate Christmas and other religious festivieties or simple patriotic pins. Also, you can choose to collect just silver, enamelled or Kriegsmetall badges.
Between 1914 and 1918 these badges were made by thousands, so many that every year I see some that I've never seen before. Collecting everything is impossible, unless you have a bunch of money!

Let's speak a bit about prices: those depend greatly upon the request of the market. Most collectors of cap badges live in the former Austro-hungarian empire: North eastern Italy, Slovenia, Austria Hungary, Czech republic, Slovakia and so on. In each country the badges from units that were made up mainly of soldiers recruited locally will be more sought and prized. In Italy, badges from famous battles or places on the italian front are in great demand. Almost everywhere badges from the èlite units like the Sturmtruppe or the Tiroler Kaiserjaeger demand very high prices. On the other hand, there are many types of Kappenabzeichen (please don't call the just "Kappen": in german this means "cap"!) that are still very affordable: the patriotic pins are usually very well made (most of them are enamelled) and cheap. Badges that depict famous personalities like kings or generals are also usually sold at low prices. Kappenabzeichen from the russian front are also usually relatively cheap.

Another distinction that should be made is between the so called "officer badges" and the regular ones. The Kappenabzeichen were semi-official badges made to raise founds, and at the same time to commemorate a person, an event or a battle or to identify a unit. Sometime cheaper and more expensive versions were made of one badge. "Officer badges" are called those made in silver or with enamelled parts, but actually everybody could buy them, not officers only.
The fact is that those badges were more expensive, so only who had a lot of money could buy them... Mostly like nowadays

What can I say about the two badges of this thread?
The first one is very common, altough made in silver. Of course much rarer than the copper version, that is identical except for the metal.
The other one is rarer: there is at least another version from the same division that was made in the field with the lead of the shrapnels to commemorate the Christmas of 1916. It's from the 6th Infantry Division. I don't have it in my collection. Curiously, I have one from the 6th cavalry division that is quite similar: made in silver, it depicts a saint (St. George, patron of the cavalry, or still St Michael?) that is killing a dragoon.

[Ironcrown]

Actually there are very many things to say about this field...
If you have any question I'll be glad to be helpful.
In any case, here are some further links that may be interesting:

http://kappenabzeichen.webnode.cz/katalog/
http://www.kappenabzeichen.it/index.html
http://kappenabzeichen.weebly.com/
http://www.blitzkriegmilitaria-forum.com/index.php

The last link is an italian militaria forum that works in the same exact way like the WAF. You must subscribe to see the pics but is totally free. If you put the word kappenabzeichen in the search engine you'll finde there a huge number of intersting threads about the cap badges!

One last thing: beware of fakes! Austrian cap badges have been widely faked! Altough good replicas are still very few, there are some that may fool the unexperienced collector

[peterm]

Hi guys!

Well spotted, Ironcrown!

I can see, there are some of You really interested in cap-badges. I will post some of mine in the thread I started a few days ago with cavalry-badges.

Kind regards, Peter