July New Release: The 2nd Foot Guard Regiment of the Prussian (1 Viewer)

[TeamMiniatures]

With a fondness for the white lace bars on the collar and the Swedish cuffs, we made The 2nd Foot Guard Regiment of the Prussian Guard Troops.The 2nd Foot Guard Regt, raised in 1813, was also a Berlin unit. During the bloody frontal attacks at St Privat on 18 August 1870, made without artillery preparation and in antiquated tactical formations, it suffered the highest casualties in the Guard: 39 officers and 1,076 other ranks killed and wounded.
Hope you could like them!
T.M. Jack

Prince Otto von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898) was one of the most prominent leaders of the 19th century; He brought to his task of masterminding the creation of the German Empire great intellectual gifts and foresight. He became known as the Iron Chancellor.

 

[TeamMiniatures]

 

[Gazza]

They look great, especially with the iconic helmets

 

[Louis Badolato]

Dunkelblau waffenrock tunic with red facings, matching feldmutz cap or pickelhaube helmet . . . yeah, I love Franco Prussian War Prussian uniforms . . . can you tell?{sm4}

 

[marco55]

Some really nice looking figures.
Mark

 

[Gebhard]

Dunkelblau waffenrock tunic with red facings, matching feldmutz cap or pickelhaube helmet . . . yeah, I love Franco Prussian War Prussian uniforms . . . can you tell?{sm4}

Just curious , what makes you think these items are from the Franco Prussian War ??

Really hate to be the one to break the bad news to ya but Just by looking at the Pikelhaube and Field cap from a distance I can tell you with 100% certainty they are from a much later period. The Tunic and frock coat are also from a later period.

Some even worse news about the Skull applied to the Pikelhaube plate the only unit to be issued a skull was the 92. IF Rgt based in Braunschweig and that type of skull was never issued. That is a fantasy piece.

You really have to be aware when buying Militaria especially off ebay, they will falsely represent items and rip you off in a heart beat.

If your interested I can tell you more information about the items you bought , I've been collecting, buying , and selling Militaria for over 45 years specializing in Imperial German up until 1918 and would be happy to help. I'm also very interested in the unit histories and if you have a named piece can help with that also. I hate dishonest dealers and cons.

 

[MikeNick]

Hi.
Thanks for the information. Do you happen to know how accurate are the uniforms of these Prussian figures?
Thanks,
MikeNick

Just curious , what makes you think these items are from the Franco Prussian War ??

Really hate to be the one to break the bad news to ya but Just by looking at the Pikelhaube and Field cap from a distance I can tell you with 100% certainty they are from a much later period. The Tunic and frock coat are also from a later period.

Some even worse news about the Skull applied to the Pikelhaube plate the only unit to be issued a skull was the 92. IF Rgt based in Braunschweig and that type of skull was never issued. That is a fantasy piece.

You really have to be aware when buying Militaria especially off ebay, they will falsely represent items and rip you off in a heart beat.

If your interested I can tell you more information about the items you bought , I've been collecting, buying , and selling Militaria for over 45 years specializing in Imperial German up until 1918 and would be happy to help. I'm also very interested in the unit histories and if you have a named piece can help with that also. I hate dishonest dealers and cons.

 

[jazzeum]

Gebhard, hope you’re well. I’d also like to hear your opinion on the figures, especially Bismarck. Thanks.

Brad

 

[Warrior]

With a fondness for the white lace bars on the collar and the Swedish cuffs, we made The 2nd Foot Guard Regiment of the Prussian Guard Troops.The 2nd Foot Guard Regt, raised in 1813, was also a Berlin unit. During the bloody frontal attacks at St Privat on 18 August 1870, made without artillery preparation and in antiquated tactical formations, it suffered the highest casualties in the Guard: 39 officers and 1,076 other ranks killed and wounded.
Hope you could like them!
T.M. Jack
View attachment 264107
Prince Otto von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898) was one of the most prominent leaders of the 19th century; He brought to his task of masterminding the creation of the German Empire great intellectual gifts and foresight. He became known as the Iron Chancellor.
View attachment 264108

Interesting choice to do Prussian Guard Infantry; their charge at Gravelotte St. Privat was suicide, they charged up a slope into murderous fire from bolt action rifles with no artillery support, they are fortunate they were not all wiped out. Love the mix of headgear too.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Just curious , what makes you think these items are from the Franco Prussian War ??

Really hate to be the one to break the bad news to ya but Just by looking at the Pikelhaube and Field cap from a distance I can tell you with 100% certainty they are from a much later period. The Tunic and frock coat are also from a later period.

Some even worse news about the Skull applied to the Pikelhaube plate the only unit to be issued a skull was the 92. IF Rgt based in Braunschweig and that type of skull was never issued. That is a fantasy piece.

You really have to be aware when buying Militaria especially off ebay, they will falsely represent items and rip you off in a heart beat.

If your interested I can tell you more information about the items you bought , I've been collecting, buying , and selling Militaria for over 45 years specializing in Imperial German up until 1918 and would be happy to help. I'm also very interested in the unit histories and if you have a named piece can help with that also. I hate dishonest dealers and cons.

I mostly buy my militaria from dealers (usually after Ken Osen takes a look at it for me), but the Pickelhaube was from a dealer on Ruby Lane, who obviously I won't trust again. The remainder of the uniform was not listed as Franco Prussian War, but rather as pre-WWI. I just through the stuff together to pay tribute to these wonderful new figures.

 

[Gebhard]

I mostly buy my militaria from dealers (usually after Ken Osen takes a look at it for me), but the Pickelhaube was from a dealer on Ruby Lane, who obviously I won't trust again. The remainder of the uniform was not listed as Franco Prussian War, but rather as pre-WWI. I just through the stuff together to pay tribute to these wonderful new figures.

That is cool, Militaria and Toy soldiers have always gone hand in hand for me and my brother going up. My family has a long Military background of service and I can't remember what came first playing with old family uniforms and equipment or TS's. I know when running around playing war as children we always had the best stuff, sad to say we ruined many items I wished I had now..

The first spiked helmet was issued to Prussian infantry regiments on Oct 23 1842, and some form of it up until and into WWI. I will not geek out too much and keep it short, anyway its size, shape, and hardware were changed many times during it use.

Your Helmet looks to be M.1895 that someone put together I'd need more photo's to tell more. The skull looks to be something from hussar unit that someone affixed to the helmet plate. Its still a cool piece just would need a few things to make it right.

Just a little info on the field cap and something to look for until 1897 other ranks only wore a cockade in the state colors on the cap bands on their field caps. Only after 1897 the state cockade and a second one called the imperial cockade were authorized. The Imperial cockade (red white & black) would be worn above the state cockade which was sewn to the band. On the one you have here black & white which was for Prussian troops.

I didn't know Ken was a collector of Militaria but I'm not surprised if he is. He seems to have very good depth of knowledge on uniforms and equipment. I can tell ya collecting original Militaria can prove to be a very expensive education. I have met guys who have collected for years only to find out too late when they went to sell items that they had been buying fakes for a long long time. WWII is even worse with about 80% of the items for sale being fakes, the old fakes from the 60's & 70's are now considered the real deal even by some dealers. Its a scary hobby for sure, I would not start collecting WWII now and only buy from family members and a few that I know & trust.

Like I mentioned I'd be happy to give more information. Happy collecting.

 

[Terp152]

That is cool, Militaria and Toy soldiers have always gone hand in hand for me and my brother going up. My family has a long Military background of service and I can't remember what came first playing with old family uniforms and equipment or TS's. I know when running around playing war as children we always had the best stuff, sad to say we ruined many items I wished I had now..

The first spiked helmet was issued to Prussian infantry regiments on Oct 23 1842, and some form of it up until and into WWI. I will not geek out too much and keep it short, anyway its size, shape, and hardware were changed many times during it use.

Your Helmet looks to be M.1895 that someone put together I'd need more photo's to tell more. The skull looks to be something from hussar unit that someone affixed to the helmet plate. Its still a cool piece just would need a few things to make it right.

Just a little info on the field cap and something to look for until 1897 other ranks only wore a cockade in the state colors on the cap bands on their field caps. Only after 1897 the state cockade and a second one called the imperial cockade were authorized. The Imperial cockade (red white & black) would be worn above the state cockade which was sewn to the band. On the one you have here black & white which was for Prussian troops.

I didn't know Ken was a collector of Militaria but I'm not surprised if he is. He seems to have very good depth of knowledge on uniforms and equipment. I can tell ya collecting original Militaria can prove to be a very expensive education. I have met guys who have collected for years only to find out too late when they went to sell items that they had been buying fakes for a long long time. WWII is even worse with about 80% of the items for sale being fakes, the old fakes from the 60's & 70's are now considered the real deal even by some dealers. Its a scary hobby for sure, I would not start collecting WWII now and only buy from family members and a few that I know & trust.

Like I mentioned I'd be happy to give more information. Happy collecting.

Having been to some militaria shows and really would have liked to have purchased some German panzer and infantry assault badges but figured there was a 50% chance they were fake. I read the same for German helmets. Chris

 

[nysoldiers]

An interesting story.....the talk about German WWI uniforms brought to my memory.

Perhaps Gebhard would appreciate.

My grandfather was born in Germany in 1888. His family was Jewish and owned some lumber yards.
He was a very accomplished "fencing" master winning many tournaments and being trained by champions.
However, when it came to the most prestigious dueling tournaments he was denied an invitation by the
Prussian elites because of his religion. But many of them wanted a chance to duel this young upstart and they would secretly
invite him to their homes or clubs. According to my grandfather he won many of these matches and his opponents were
very gracious and even apologetic for the way he was treated.

Against his family's wishes my grandfather enlisted in the German army in 1912 and rose in the ranks thanks to his relationships
with top military officers who knew him from fencing. He fought in the battle of Tannenberg and was put in charge of a district
that the Germans occupied in Russian territory. He believed that he was one of the highest ranks of any German Jewish citizen.

In 1925 my grandfather emigrated to America with his wife and my 5 year old father. He brought with him his fencing foils but
they were either confiscated or stolen going through Ellis Island.

As a footnote, my father was the New York City fencing champion in High School and Nationally ranked. He had a chance to make
the US Olympic Fencing team but the 1940 games were cancelled. My dad enlisted in the army air force and his unit (79th Fighter Group) was attached
to the British 8th Army in North Africa following Rommel's Afrika Corps from Egypt, through Lybia, Tunisia into Sicily and Italy.

I always enjoy hearing about experiences of our ancestors.

 

[OzDigger]

Nice looking figures.

As for collecting militaria, I have my Fathers RAAF uniform and although its been cared for over the years it still looks worn and has a number of moth holes. I also have my Grandfathers WWI medals, a Turk belt buckle, several Turkish Mauser bullets and his 'Housewife' I think he called it. It's a small bag with compartments that folds up and can be tied off.

He also had a Gurkha knife and a Turkish sword on Gallipoli. He recorded his military ventures on cassette tape which I later transcribed. Here are his actual words about those Two items which may be of interest to some members. Although lacking in formal education he was an intelligent person with an impressive memory, which he retained up until his death at 94.

"I had a Kukri knife I got from one of the Ghurkhas. They wouldn’t draw it without having to knick their thumb or their finger, they’d have to draw blood. They take an oath when they joined up that they won’t draw it without drawing blood, they’d even knick their own finger to follow it like. Anyway I don’t know really what happened to it, I think someone stole that from me on Gallipoli. I used it for cutting and splitting deal board (off packing cases) up for firewood, any pine board to start a fire with.

"On Gallipoli we had no cooking utensils and no cooks. Head Quarters might have had a cook I don’t know about that but the ordinary troops had to do their own cooking or starve. I used to feed up on Frey Bentos bully beef and biscuits, army biscuits. I used to pound them up in me tin hat. I took the padding out of it to use it for a saucepan, make Irish stew. I thrived on it but you couldn’t eat the bloody biscuits as they were. You could put one of those biscuits in water overnight and it wouldn’t soak in, it was so bloody hard, worse than what you’d give a dog nowadays. I had four false front teeth then, they stood up to it right through the campaign never broke ‘em down or done anything to ‘em. They were made by a fella named Trotter? in Taree. They only cost me thirty bob and lasted for years even after I came out of the army I had ‘em."

"I used to knock ‘round through the scrub looking for firewood and stuff, one day I came across an old dead Turk, an officer. It looked like he had been wounded and crawled away and died in the scrub, he was all dried out, dehydrated looking like. He had a beautiful sword it didn’t have a touch of rust on it, and it had all of the Sam Brown, all the gear like. I had that sword for the whole time, I even got it back to Egypt, and when we got back to Cairo we had to hand in all our kitbags. I had it in my kitbag and handed it in, I never seen the bloody thing again, someone at the kit store could still have it.

There was an old chap with us he was over sixty, he had served his time in the Irish Constabulary then dyed his hair and got into our regiment. I showed it to him and he said that’s a beautiful sword. He got it and bent the point of it back nearly to the hilt, to the handle like made a hoop of it nearly. I said good god Tom, a fella named Tom Wheatley, I said you’ve broke it. He said you couldn’t break that Greeny that’s the best Damascus steel he said. He said you could do anything with it you couldn’t break that. It would sort of sing when you bent it like, it had silver inlaid all around the hilt with Turkish writing. Of course I couldn’t read what it was but it would have been worth a bit as a souvenir if I could have got it home. What I had in mind I was going to give it to old Jimmy Homewood, he had always been pretty good to me as a kid and I thought now he’d like to have that, anyway I never ever seen it again."

 

[Louis Badolato]

Matt,

Thank you for passing along your father's story!:salute:: My grandfather was a dough boy in WWI and he never spoke to me about it. I didn't find out until my mother passed, and I inherited the old family albums, which had photos of him returning from his service in Europe in his uniform. I wish I could have heard and preserved his stories.

Louis

 

[marco55]

My great grandfather joined the 1st NJ Cavalry in 1864 at age 16 and was mustered out in June 1865.As his regiment was at Appomattox I take it he was there too.He died in 1933 at the age of 86.My uncles said he was a short stocky little man but they were scared of him.{eek3}
Mark

 

[OzDigger]

Matt,

Thank you for passing along your father's story!:salute:: My grandfather was a dough boy in WWI and he never spoke to me about it. I didn't find out until my mother passed, and I inherited the old family albums, which had photos of him returning from his service in Europe in his uniform. I wish I could have heard and preserved his stories.

Louis

Louis

Yes it's sad when those memories are not passed on. My Grandfather didn't say much to his children but was always happy to talk to me and other Grandchildren about WWI. My Father never said much about his service in WW2, a pity he died in a horse accident before he got around to recording his ventures in Bomber Command. I did forget to mention he kept some night photos of bombing operations and several maps etc.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Louis

Yes it's sad when those memories are not passed on. My Grandfather didn't say much to his children but was always happy to talk to me and other Grandchildren about WWI. My Father never said much about his service in WW2, a pity he died in a horse accident before he got around to recording his ventures in Bomber Command. I did forget to mention he kept some night photos of bombing operations and several maps etc.

Matt,

My uncle Joe flew more than 20 missions in the B17 "Rikki Tikki Tavi" before being killed on a raid to bomb Berlin on May 5, 1944. With the help of a former member of this forum, Zach Bogue, I found out that he flew from Snetterton Heath, and obtained the report of his last, fatal mission. I have kept his story alive. I did the same for my Great Uncle Jack, who survived the war and died at 89 years old. He was 9th Airforce, in a Liberator, and was awarded 3 Bronze Stars, for flying on some of the Ploesti Raids. He also never spoke of his service, but when he passed, I got all of his service records, his Honorable Discharge, and his medal citations. I have shrines to both of their, as well as my Grandfather's service. Sadly, my father, who was a Naval Aviator during the Korean Conflict, but stationed guarding the Panama Canal, flying Martin PBM Flying Boats, never told me any of his stories, and when my mother passed, I could not find anything relating to his service in her home. When I was a kid I saw his Honorable Discharge papers and some photos, but when I cleared out their home, they were nowhere to be found.

Louis

 

[tdubel]

An interesting story.....the talk about German WWI uniforms brought to my memory.

Perhaps Gebhard would appreciate.

My grandfather was born in Germany in 1888. His family was Jewish and owned some lumber yards.
He was a very accomplished "fencing" master winning many tournaments and being trained by champions.
However, when it came to the most prestigious dueling tournaments he was denied an invitation by the
Prussian elites because of his religion. But many of them wanted a chance to duel this young upstart and they would secretly
invite him to their homes or clubs. According to my grandfather he won many of these matches and his opponents were
very gracious and even apologetic for the way he was treated.

Against his family's wishes my grandfather enlisted in the German army in 1912 and rose in the ranks thanks to his relationships
with top military officers who knew him from fencing. He fought in the battle of Tannenberg and was put in charge of a district
that the Germans occupied in Russian territory. He believed that he was one of the highest ranks of any German Jewish citizen.

In 1925 my grandfather emigrated to America with his wife and my 5 year old father. He brought with him his fencing foils but
they were either confiscated or stolen going through Ellis Island.

As a footnote, my father was the New York City fencing champion in High School and Nationally ranked. He had a chance to make
the US Olympic Fencing team but the 1940 games were cancelled. My dad enlisted in the army air force and his unit (79th Fighter Group) was attached
to the British 8th Army in North Africa following Rommel's Afrika Corps from Egypt, through Lybia, Tunisia into Sicily and Italy.

I always enjoy hearing about experiences of our ancestors.

Rich, learned something new, I didn't know about your family military history. I can go back as far as the Civil War and beyond into the 1700s after the Rev War, My Aunt did say she was eligible for Daughters of the Am Rev, but I have not completed that trace yet. That is the Dubel line. The other 3 are all immigrants, so little harder to trace but can see some as they came through Ellis Island.

Regarding WW2, my Grandfather lived til 98 (died 2018), so I was very fortunate to hear, see and discuss WW2 with him for a good number of years. He was a veteran of the War in the Pacific, specifically the Philippines and then Occupied Japan. If not for the Atomic Bomb and subsequent surrender, he would have been on the first wave of the Invasion of Japan and I would probably or more likely than not, never met him. For my family, literally and figuratively, "thank God for the Bomb".

TD

 

[Gribeauval]

These figures look great! It is genius to have the first non-Jalut mounted figure be Bismarck. He is definitely the best "fun" choice. I am very glad to see them keep going with this line until it is reasonably developed. I hope they do French line next. I would not complain about French Guard infantry (most of whom should be wearing the bearskin hat....yes, even though they did not wear those in battle during the FP War....it simply looks too good in toy soldier terms to ignore).