Relic German sign
The Aussie dollar stinks at the moment!!!
At 74c to the US$ and 68c to the Euro + long distances to ship makes collecting no fun at all – so one has to be resourceful and selective.
But, this bullet riddled porcelain sign caught my eye recently and helped empty some cash from my pockets!
Measuring around 30cm x 20cm, the wording once read ‘HOCHSPANNUNG - VORSICHT! – LEBENSGEFAHR’ … which roughly translated is ‘HIGH VOLTAGE – CAUTION - LIFE HAZARD’
Here is what it once would have looked like …
Often you will see these signs advertised as coming from “concentration camp perimeter fences” which is a load of hooey……. they are simply warning signs used where either a fence is electrified or there is high voltage electrical equipment within ( like a power station or substation etc… ) This sort of signage with the same wording is still in use today ( in plastic ) so while one of these enameled ones dates from decades past, if you see one don’t be swayed into thinking that it is wartime when in fact it could well be made in later years.
Having said that, where I became interested is when I saw the bullet holes, corrosion and crazed porcelain. Call me a sucker if you will but unless this was Cold War troops doing target practice in the 1960’s, small arms fire from automatic weapons has NOT been heard in Germany for many, many decades so I have a good feeling that this one may very well be wartime.
That said, I can easily visualise Russian 7.62mm rounds from PPSH-41 & PPS-43’s whacking into this sign in the closing stages of the battle for Berlin.
Well, I can dream ...and it WILL look good on my wall ….. hope you all like it too?
Cheers, Dan
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by HistoryMan
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