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die Tragschnur- the Neck Cord
Here are a few examples of discs that still retain their fibre neck cords, the Tragschnur (I've also heard Halsschnur). Note how each one is different- there was no standard it seems and because of their natural fibre nature, they were subject to wear, breakage and repair/replacement.
This one has a composite cord, made of two different types- presumably a break repair. Note the small loop tied in to hold the religious symbols. The disc itself is interesting too because although it appears to be a Luftwaffe MOB coded disc, it's not; I've been unable to determine just what unit 122626 refers to, but the blood group letter would seem to suggest it was a field unit of some sort (mainly men subject to action wounds would need blood transfusions).
One of my favourite discs, this one belonged to a Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger of the II./ Fallschirmjäger-Lehr-Regiment and it interestingly has a very thin cord, likely a replacement, that's been doubled to be sufficiently strong. It's also extremely long, which sometimes Tragschnüre were; one way of wearing Erkennungsmarken, perhaps an early one, was across the body rather than just around the neck, so a long cord was obviously necessary.
Here's my best disc with a cord because the disc and cord are in excellent condition and best of all it also has a Brustbeutel- a breast purse or bag; there are many forms of this little pouch for carrying precious items, a little money or whatever, but this one's one of the more interesting types- the 4 'straps' are attached to one side of the pouch and run through slots on the other side, so when you pull it open, they cover the opening such that things won't easily fall out, but you can still get to them- a brilliant design for a field-use purse.
This excellent example of a Panzer-Nachrichten unit disc has an interestingly woven cord rather than the more common twisted one.
Here's an Artillerie disc with a more usual twisted cord. The disc itself is interesting in that there's only a single blood group letter stamped on it- just on the lower half; usually there were stamps on both halves, and sometimes two on each!
This is a WWI disc of the 1916 mid-form (full Trennschlitzen, but no bottom hole); the cord on this and the next disc is tied impossibly short to be worn, so I suspect these are keepsakes- the owners survived the war and to keep the long cord from becoming tangled, they simply cut it short and tied it off.
This one's the same as the previous example except it has a very heavy twisted cord.
Interestingly, during WWI, Tragschnüre sometimes indicated the unit's origin state by including its colours- Bavarians, for example, could have a cord made of twisted white and blue cords.
It's cool to find discs with cords, but as with anything else of any value of any sort, there are scumbag fakers who try to fool you- luckily fibre cords age obviously and most of the time you can really tell what's old and what's not. Synthetics did exist, but the majority are natural fibres- cotton, etc. and they'll be dirty, frayed and usually quite clearly look 65+ years old.
Last edited by Matt L; 05-14-2011 at 06:08 PM.
Ohhhhh- pillage then burn...
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05-14-2011 05:38 PM
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Re: die Tragschnur- the Neck Cord
Those are BEAUTIFUL examples Matt! WOW, really nice discs!!!
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Re: die Tragschnur- the Neck Cord
Very nice Examples good to see orig to compare with the others!! Matt thanks brother.
Eric
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Re: die Tragschnur- the Neck Cord
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Re: die Tragschnur- the Neck Cord
Excellent thread. (No pun intended )
Cheers, Ade.
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