Mystery Watch Fob-SS?

**MrFaulkner** · 02-07-2011, 07:41 PM

Is this a watch fob or is it a ribbon? Any help would be appreciated...As always. steven

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 02-07-2011 07:41 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Adrian Stevenson** · 02-07-2011, 08:01 PM

Hi Steven, I would say it is a watch fob. I cannot make out all the wording, but I don't think there is any connection here to the SS.

Cheers, Ade.

**MrFaulkner** · 02-07-2011, 08:02 PM

Looks like it says-

**MrFaulkner** · 02-07-2011, 08:03 PM

Looks like it says- FRIDOLIN S 1 LBF JONNY COTHEN SS 27

**HPL2008** · 02-07-2011, 10:11 PM

These are so-called Zipfel; these items are presented/exchanged between students belonging to German Student Corps, as a sign of friendship or a special relationship, or between fencers fighting a Mensur.

The colors identify the Corps in question, as does the crest-and-cypher device; the inscription "S.S." means Sommersemester (Summer Semester).

See here for an example from another Corps:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...felbund00.jpeg

**Woolgar** · 02-07-2011, 10:28 PM

by HPL2008

These are so-called Zipfel; these items are presented/exchanged between students belonging to German Student Corps, as a sign of friendship or a special relationship, or between fencers fighting a Mensur.

The colors identify the Corps in question, as does the crest-and-cypher device; the inscription "S.S." means Sommersemester (Summer Semester).

See here for an example from another Corps:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...felbund00.jpeg

Is there anything you dont know ??

Nick

**HPL2008** · 02-07-2011, 10:31 PM

by Stickgrenade

Is there anything you dont know ??

Infinitely more than I know, that's for sure!

Just for additional illustration, I got out my camera and shot two quick snaps of an example I own.

Obverse - Note the Corps' cypher:

Reverse - Note the names of the students who had given these (Sepp and Fritz) and the year of presentation (1935):

**MrFaulkner** · 02-07-2011, 10:56 PM

Is there anything you dont know
Really, Hpl....
Any idea of a venue for this??? Is one piece missing???

**HPL2008** · 02-08-2011, 08:06 PM

The inscription says:

Fridolin
s. l. Lbf. [= seinem lieben Leibfuchs]
Jonny
Cöthen S.S. [= Sommersemester] 27.

This Zipfel was presented by a student named Fridolin to a junior fellow student of his Corps named (or, more likely, nicknamed) Jonny at Cöthen (the older and now obsolete spelling for the university town of Köthen in Saxony-Anhalt) in the Summer Semester of 1927.

Jonny was Fridolin's Leibfuchs; i.e. a newcomer to his Corps whom Fridolin had taken under his wing to provide him with guidance into the student world, and specifically, that of his Corps. (Fridolin would have been called Jonny's Leibbursch in turn.)

The cyphers with the "!" are abbreviated Corps mottos.

As for the question of whether one piece is missing, I cannot provide a real answer to this; the customs and traditions regarding the presentation/exchange/awarding of these items are highly complex and differ from Corps to Corps. (Depending on physical appearence, they are categorized as Bierzipfel, Weinzipfel, Sektzipfel and Schnapszipfel while a classification in terms of status and meaning includes suchs terms as Ehrenzipfel, Fuchsenzipfel, Vorstandszipfel etc.) Furthermore, individual students wear individually different numbers and compositions of these fobs, depending on their Corps affiliation, seniority, status/function, number of duels etc. etc...
Here is some more info on the subject; it's in German, though: Zipfel

As for value, I cannot be of any help, as I don't collect student items at all. (The one I showed above was given to me as a gift and is the only one of those that I own.)

Disclaimer 1: I know only very little about the Student Corps world and if I have got some facts wrong will happily stand corrected by other members better qualified in this specialized field.

Disclaimer 2: Please note that the German word Zipfel, depending on context and regional dialect, can also describe a dangly bit of an entirely different nature. Non-German speakers should use the word with caution.

**Rudolf Karl** · 02-08-2011, 08:36 PM

Not only are you well versed in at least the two languages, a historian I'm thinking also, but I had a great laugh
with your "Disclaimer 2". When ever I speak with my Father, he always and no matter what the first word is, it ends
with Zipfel. After that he calls me by my name. ( which after 58 years makes me think that Zipfel may be it)
Great catch in dialect.