Article about: Hello from New Zealand I have been collecting Kiwi Ww1 items since my 20's, but in the last few years have had a great interest in finding and learning about German items to add to the cabin
I have been collecting Kiwi Ww1 items since my 20's, but in the last few years have had a great interest in finding and learning about German items to add to the cabinet.
Not long ago a friend and I walked into an antique shop a few hours drive from home to see a lady at the counter with a cardboard box of what looked like old military items poking out the top.
My instant reaction was we had arrived seconds too late and had been beaten to the spoils by another lucky customer.
But as we got closer we soon found out she was just dropping off a load of items her late husbands farther had stashed in the roof space, collected during his time he spent fighting in the great war as part of the New Zealand expeditionary forces.
After telling us his name and that she would rather have money to buy a new fishing rod, she left the shop.
Unfortunately she left with a lovely early 1915 butchers bayonet, Amberg on one side & F. Herder & Son Solingen on the other, the only thing in the box she wasn't wanting to part with at the time.
We were both chomping at the bit to have a look at this time capsule that had just appeared before us.
As you are possibly very aware Kiwi's like our Australian neighbors were big souvenir hunters when away from home.
As I started negotiating items of interest, starting with an Ullrich Annweiler 1914 drinking cup with initials carved on the side, a few bits of shrapnel stored in a lens container out of a German gas mask, a complete 1915 dated water bottle with straps, a small metal oil bottle marked with imperial markings that needed more investigation. (I will create a thread on it)
But the most interesting item at the time was a small knife.
I was not up with the play but my friend with me said it looks like a trench knife so I added it to my pile treasure to take home.
i could see some markings and although the scabbard seemed to be missing the part the attaches to the belt it had to come home and stay with the other items.
My question to all you fellow collectors is the only information I could find is that the marks are for Clemen and Jung of Solingen.
Am I correct in saying that???
Please let me know any details about it that you have as I'm learning every day and greatly appreciate any knowledge your willing to share.
It does seem very basic in design, no fancy handle grooves and what not.
Interestingly at some stage in its life, (possibly in the field) the scabbard has had an impact dent that directly correlates with a matching hit on the blade.
Must have been a serious hit, shrapnel glance? who knows.
Was this an early pattern?
Sorry for the long story, I can get a bit carried away with the details....
Best regards
Corey
Last edited by Coreynewzealand; 10-28-2020 at 11:55 AM.
Corey, I really enjoyed this post! Looks like some intersection pieces. My wife is from Auckland, so hopefully once things settle down we can get over there as I haven’t been yet! I hear there is a Great War museum in Auckland too! Her grandfather was at Gallipoli and she is only 46, so he must have been very young when he went and old when he had children!
Kateri
Sadly antique shops are a dying breed...nothing like holding the item in your hands aye.
When you do find a good one it all comes down to luck.
The stars do align from time to time, 6 months ago a Coromandel second hand shop had this sitting up on a shelf for $35!
Almost fell over. again marked 1915
Congratulations Corey.
I hitched into Coromandel on my only visit,picked up in a Sheep truck heading South.
Stayed in the old hotel.
Guess I was 20 years too early for that cap.
Do you get to Wellington?
There used to be a few interesting shops there.
Not as much as I should.
Last time I was down I did do the Te Papa /Peter Jackson Gallipoli exhibit, and Jackson's (now finished) Great War exhibition. Both were mind blowing.
Thanks for the photos Corey,my eldest son got to the Great War exhibition,but I don't think Ive been inside since it was the National Museum.I really love that building.
Imperial Trench Knife find. what do you think?
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