Why were Roman numerals used on some early honor rings?

[MAP]

Phil to the rescue!!!!

Dang the cell phone reception here...

[AZPhil]

Any Luck with it Alex????

Semper Fi
Phil

[Mr lynch]

sorry opened new thread to show my pictures of 1934 ss honor ring with roman numerals in the date. any info will help . i bought don boyles book on honor rings witch i read in a day and loved it. but could not see any thing on why roman numerals were used on some early rings. this does not have d.b. coa, but i have sent him pictures and he said it looks like a good one to him. but of course not until he has ring in hand he will not know 100 %. lakesidetraders has 100% money back for item not lagit. but from what i see i belive this ring will pass as a good one. i just wanna say thanks to everyone who helped me get started on this forurm . iv used this fourum as a reference many times. glad to be a part of it now. back to ring . it was awarded to wilhelm seydel, ss number 4346. i have payed about 70 % down so far.i will have ring in hand in about 3 months since was not cheep, i had to do lay away but still feel i got a fair price. any way thanks for every thing and look forward to hearing what you guys have to say
-Alex

[bigmacglenn]

Do you also have the research packet/documentation from Ross Kelbaugh as the advertisement mentions?
cheers, Glenn

[big ned]

Hi Alex,

This certainly appears to be a genuine early 1934 ring that commemorates the Rohm purge or "Night of the Long Knives" as it's more commonly referred to.

The use of Roman numeral 'VI' can be found on some of these early 1934 rings as opposed to the Arabic number '6' as seen on other examples from that bestowal date as well. That particular bestowal date then seems to have dropped away after 1934, although I've seen a single example dated 30.6.44 in the past, maybe that was a later replacement piece?

What is of note is that there are examples of the earlier 1933 rings dated for December of that year, known as the "Christmas Rings" (i.e. the ring belonging to Karl Wolff dated 24.XII.33) that also use Roman numerals for the month date, and in my opinion show a continuity to the later 30.VI.34 rings. As far as I know, the usage of that numeral type was dropped altogether at that point.

Therefore the ring you show above is, I believe a significant and rather rare (historically speaking) example of an early SS Totenkopf ring. A very nice piece to own and certainly not "run of the mill", if that could be said of any Ehrenring!

Regards, Ned.

[bigmacglenn]

I was hoping you'd add your expertise, Ned...It's refreshing to see an original ring to learn from...
cheers, Glenn

[harryamb2]

I echo Glenn's comment.

[Mr lynch]

thanks a million big ned!! iv seen you comment on so many rings ,thats a big reason i joined. i wanted one of these for couple years, always keeping an eye out. so pricy i could not make a move. seen this ring pop up one morning for the right price on pauls site from lakeside and i locked it down its first day it appeared on the site. and to glenn thanks i will be receiving a package from ross with the ring but wont have for couple months or so. ....soon i will show you what was just passed dowm from my grandfather to my father and now myself . my grandpa was a British commando and had a first pattern fs fighting knife. my dad did not even know it was first pattern knife , or know much about it until the day he gave it to me and i looked up the Wilkinson sword marker and in about ten minutes on the computer with my father he asked for it back lol jokingly , i keep it at his place but i will take pictures soon and share -alex

[AZPhil]

Glad to hear this all worked out well for you Alex..
Semper Fi
Phil

[Gwar]

Paul ( Lakeside Traders ) is a pretty reputable source for TR items.. and ships on time.. No complaints here,
But for the price of the item you did well to ask a second opinion... Gwar