Shoulder Boards Help

[bsrmilitaria]

Hi all,

I recently took a chance on these shoulder boards and was looking for some of your opinions on how I did. Lastly are there any good resources out there to identify the numbered markings and color? I tried doing some research but found it very difficult to find similar boards.

-- Maybe this is a stretch, although due to the color of the boards would these have been Turkish?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

William

[pauke]

If you jumped into Imperial shoulder straps with your eyes shut you will need good resources. The 3 straps you have look fine and would be for the dark blue pre-WW 1 Waffenrock (tunic). The dark blue underside cloth of the straps goes with the tunic color. The white tops usually indicated the corps the units were part of, but artillery units wore white as the standard color. The little tag on the back references Foot Artillery Regt 10 which I think is correct without looking in a reference. There are exceptions and amazingly unique straps and it can be a complicated area of collecting. So, I will say no more than to buy a copy of Michael A. Kelso's excellent reference from 2016 "Under Arms for the Kaiser Shoulder Insignia of the Imperial German Army's Regiments, 1871-1918. The knowledge therein is well worth the price.

[pauke]

Forgot to mention, these are shoulder straps- Schulterklappen-, not shoulder boards which is what officers' shoulder insignia are called- a Schulterstueck in singular form.

[bsrmilitaria]

If you jumped into Imperial shoulder straps with your eyes shut you will need good resources. The 3 straps you have look fine and would be for the dark blue pre-WW 1 Waffenrock (tunic). The dark blue underside cloth of the straps goes with the tunic color. The white tops usually indicated the corps the units were part of, but artillery units wore white as the standard color. The little tag on the back references Foot Artillery Regt 10 which I think is correct without looking in a reference. There are exceptions and amazingly unique straps and it can be a complicated area of collecting. So, I will say no more than to buy a copy of Michael A. Kelso's excellent reference from 2016 "Under Arms for the Kaiser Shoulder Insignia of the Imperial German Army's Regiments, 1871-1918. The knowledge therein is well worth the price.

Hi Pauke,

Thank you so much for the message and information. I am based out of Tampa - so nice to see another FL collector.

I really do appreciate the information however! I recently came across a WWI shoulder strap in a WWII US grouping and got hooked. I find them interesting to learn about with such large variations - but have had difficulty researching them. So thank you for the reference book and help IDing the 3 I posted.

If I can return the favor - please let me know!

William

[ROBB]

Nice straps , but a very complicated area of collecting. Rob

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Best area of collecting ever! IMPERIAL SHOULDERBOARDS and STRAPS are AWESOME!

[Alan Wilson]

I couldn't agree more. Collecting Imperial German shoulder insignia is a super way to enjoy our hobby. The variety of shoulder insignia to be found, as mentioned, reflects the history, not to mention all the uniform patterns, of the regiments of the German states. You may want to consider this link;

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...96#post8479196

Best, Mike

[Willi Z.]

Mike, I just sent you an email.

[Mike H]

The Book ...

Mike Kelso just published the Second Edition of his book, "Under Arms for the Kaiser". I just got mine last week as I have just waded into Imperial collecting. Here is a closeup of a strap one a uniform I just bought yesterday. I am really pleased with it.

Get Mike's book -- incredible resource in a complex field.

Mike

[Chip M]

All of these are foot artillery (heavy artillery) examples. Regimental foot artillery shoulder straps for the Bunte Rock were always white. Field artillery pieces generally followed the color pattern of the corps and therefore could be any of the normally used corps colors.

Once again, generally speaking, collecting prewar enlisted shoulder straps is fairly easy as far as identification goes. There are plenty of free references on-line. The rules of corps colors has its exceptions (cavalry units, pioneers, Jäger, etc.), but can be counted on for infantry and field artillery.

Things get more complicated when uniforming moved into the feldgrau era, especially during the 1914-18 war. There are things out there that defy identification, but these days there is very little that falls into that category.

[bsrmilitaria]

Thank you all for the additional information. I have slowly began to realized the complicity of this field - but just picked up my 5th board!

Thanks again for all the help!
William