achtung minen

[sscrooge]

Just got this, apparently it was found amongst the medals and other belongings of a vet from the durham light infantry, its been varnished on the front a long time ago and full of woodworm, has anybody any pics of a similar type of skull , the wood looks to be from some sort of crate ?the paint is old and appears to be a thick tar like paint, cheers Dave

[Rick]

Interesting find probably the lid from a crate of mine's re used to mark the mine field they were buried in.
thanks for showing.
Rick

[big ned]

Hi Dave,

It would appear that the writing on the board has been done free hand with, for my liking , a little too much care. I would have thought that a sign like this would have been stencilled on, which this one has clearly not(look at the 'n's, their all different.)

Furthermore, the shading effect on the skull that makes it almost look three dimensional, is just far too artistic for my liking. It appears that someone has tried too hard to produce what is basically, something that i would expect to be produced in the field in such numbers that a stencil would be the obvious choice. If not, then not anywhere as neatly executed as this piece.

This is just my opinion, and i would be happy to be shown to be wrong by more experienced forum members.

Kind Regards, Ned.

[sscrooge]

Hi, the paint is definetly old as is the wood, but i know little on period signs or how they were made in the field by soldiers and i too would like to know any more on this, cheers Dave

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Dave, this is always, I think, going to be a very subjective item. These are quite literally field made and "text book" versions simply do not exist. Period photos show many variations on this theme.

I can take on Ned's remarks and in many respects I can agree with what he is saying.

A friend of mine, who is a sign writer by trade, made one of these for our living history group. After a couple of years of use at shows, it looked "real". He gave it away in the end to another German group who begged it from him.

I think this is one of those few items where a leap of faith maybe required. If it is not too expensive, well buy it. It would make a super display piece. I must admit I like the general look of it, as it is an attractive piece, but I could not honestly say if it is real or not.

Cheers, Ade.

[Fritz38]

Its handmade alright, maybe it was used, maybe not, however seems like a nice wallhanger to me. Posted pic on some other handpainted or stenciled sign from the Narvik war museum, guess they had plenty of time make nice signs when not hunting partisans or do other duty...

[big ned]

Hi Guys,

Without wishing to go conking on about this, i've found this photo by 'LIFE' magazine that goes to show part of what i mean, field produced in numbers using a stencil and pretty naive compared to the aformentioned sign.

Kind Regards, Ned.

[ironcross1]

Nice piece Dave , i like it , i can see where everyone is comeing from with there comments , all are possiblities , the wood is diffinitely old as , the paint looks old , the one thing i find odd is the shape that has been given to the end of the bones , very different to what is usually drawn , not that i think it detracts from it being a period piece , if anything the oppsite .Either way something near impossible to get a definite answere to , id like it in my room , cheers Raymond

[sscrooge]

thanks guys for all the replies and pics if anybody could id what crate the wood came from it would nail it but prob impossible, if i were to make a copy sign i would have painted it like the ones shown simple skullls , but i would struggle to find a sign to paint it on that was seriously old with woodworm, cheers Dave

[Jan]

Actually what disturbs me the most is the letter "e" in Minen... But were do you draw the line anyway with items like this?

Rgds Jan