Like I said earlier, and has been mentioned by others since, steel helmets crack from extreme temperatures (frost and thaw etc.) --- why wouldn't this also happen to thin metal rings such as these with decades of being exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations?
I've even had rings myself (worn by me, not dug up) that in the end were so worn that the band cracked and I've never even been dead yet... how strange
If the body froze quickly enough-as is more than possible considering the extremes in the Russian Winter, it would not take much expansion to crack a silver shank. The flesh would not be soft enough to swell up and around it, but would turn stone hard and quickly so. Maybe just enough to exert enough pressure from the Inside of the band to open a crack in it. And does extreme cold temperatures-say, 40 or 50 below with wind added, influence the metal enough to make thin silver brittle, such as seen in the steel of early shipwrecks in cold waters, like the Titanic?
I wonder if the prevalence of split shanks is as commonly seen on the Western Front? The East was infamous for it's frostbite and freeze amputations. So, are the majority of these open bands seen as coming from the East, I wonder, where the extremes of weather were markedly more severe?
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
Ive cracked a couple silver rings as well in similar fashion so maybe it could just written off as something that happens from wear and tear, cutting, or separation of a joiner utilized for sizing. Dead bodies and soil samples seem to be a leap into an area that would leave duplicate signs as the ones stated above. Not much to a finger really anyway, a frozen finger would probably not see any expansion in decomposition in the first 48 hours by which time you have an SS Good Humor bar.
Just a general point re. the amount of rings found/dug up on the Eastern Front;
Cold places are the easiest and most common places to lose rings, capillaries constrict and the circumference of your fingers decrease. Conditions in which these rings were worn were harsh, lots of wear and tear... this coupled with freezing temperatures probably/or at least could have resulted in a lot of cracked bands over time and a high frequency of rings simply being lost. Then we can factor in what might happen after these rings endure decades of extreme temperature fluctuations--- do we really need the corpse theory for a simple ground dug ring with a cracked band?
In my humble opinion, after looking at all comments, I reckon that there could be some truth on each of them. A ring, piece of metal exposed to extreme conditions on a soldier s dead body decomposing and above all after more than 70 years. All these together might have an effect on a tiny piece of metal.by Wagriff
Last edited by jamoros; 09-22-2015 at 12:19 AM.
I don't think any One theory would cover all the different varieties of these rings encountered. It is likely that between the lot, at least One of the suggested causes would apply but only in an Individual case. Another ring could be from a Different cause. It was just an odd question that I've wondered about for some time now. I think the truth must lie somewhere in multiple causes making the same end results with multiple rings. Or maybe the Russian Front was just hard on Rings And men??
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
I have no doubt that at least the Eastern Front was a really bad place to be if you wanted to keep your ring. As for the cracked bands and multiple other defects we can now observe, all individual cases, like you said, they should all be looked at on a case by case basis.
If anything I would rather look at level of corrosion to determine what circumstances in which a ring was found, but then again it would also all depend on soil conditions, type of metal etc.
Maybe we're not getting anywhere really specific but this is all surely very stimulating and a good exercise in dissecting an issue based on what we can see coupled with relevant info and history. Just what I like.
Russian front is hard on everything but remember that the SS are more than soldiers and there were plenty of pencil pushers that saw no service on the front that and could have cracked a ring. Silver is soft and it wears, a private purchase ring of this type in particular could easily crack against an inkwell if worn enough. You will never get an answer other than a stress crack or a cut/seam.
There are more than plenty of silver rings that are Not split shanks. And, of course, there were thousands of none SS that wore them as well. Whatever way you look at it, I'm still of the opinion that the open bands signify any one of a number of reasons they split. Whether it was just from hard usage in hard environment or being on a rock solid frozen body at one time or another. All are plausible and reasonable. The men that wore them, as you said, that were Not in the thick of the nightmare in the East could well account for the "better condition" rings so often seen. I can also relate as you said, that I've had silver rings inexplicably crack on me for no noticable reason. never with some of the dramatic gaps and jagged edges that we're seeing here, though. Usually, it's a hairline crack that you notice one day. But then again, Winters in Upper Michigan are ferocious here as well...
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
Certain
You know that most of the rings or a very high percentage that are seen in market are fake and artificially aged. If you go to wear patterns on Honor rings there is a broad array of conditions to be found from ground dug to mint, so there should be no real difference there. In addition the Germans are running a wide array of silver content in these items from .800 on up and that would certainly be a factor in how a ring holds up to normal wear and tear or cold weather for that matter, but these are not Honor rings. These are private purchase pieces, they are thin and in many cases not at all hearty in construction and it would not take a lot to split a shank between the thin band and the taper seen to the rear, that is why they split in that area, especially when considering wear and joiners.
Cold weather may be a factor but the reality is you do not need cold weather, you don't need a dead body, a frozen dead body, or a gassed up Taco Bell body to have this as an end result. I'm not knocking or mocking as it is possible but by taking this route your sending a message to market that split shanks mean bloated dead SS men on the Eastern front and they need to start clipping shanks. There is no foundation at all for this conclusion, unless you get yourself a decomposing body and a private purchase ring and sit around waiting for the shank to split inhaling methane. It's not a test I would take interest in, nor would it change the answer.
If your not careful, all you will succeed in doing is increasing the amount of fakes in the market with split shanks, will take less than a couple weeks and would not be the first time. I don't know how this got here, it's silly.
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks