Imperial German Erkennungsmarke.

[AndyM35]

This example is one that I recently picked up and is of the circa 1915 pattern being a larger oval shape made from zinc and without the horizontal score marks of the latter discs, and is named to Otto Korn who was born in Eberswalde on the 24th of February, 1898.

From my limited knowledge I think he served as part of the 2nd Replacement Battalion, FD? Artillery Regiment 53. And then later 3rd Reserve Battalion? Any help in deciphering it and any other information would be welcomed.

Andy

[BlackCat1982]

Andy, I'm not happy with this one, my reason being the limited information regarding Otto Korns address, unusual to not have a street address. Secondly the reverse of the tag looks as though there are strike through blooms from where the text was struck on the front face.

I'd be interested to hear what fellow members think.

[AndyM35]

Andy, I'm not happy with this one, my reason being the limited information regarding Otto Korns address, unusual to not have a street address. Secondly the reverse of the tag looks as though there are strike through blooms from where the text was struck on the front face.

I'd be interested to hear what fellow members think.

Thanks for looking BlackCat! I think you might be right. Something that I guess I must have missed in my rush to purchase it partly because the name was Otto and it reminded me of our Schnauzer Otto who passed away in 2019. The condition does seem a little too good as well. I guess we’ll see what others say and glad I didn’t pay too much for it.

Andy

[AndyM35]

I’ve grabbed some images off the dealers website and have noticed what looks like some letters on the front.

[Anon]

Hi Andy,

Fd stands for Feld, Abt should be Abteilung and Batt should be batterie. If I’m correct he would have served in the 2. Ersatz Abteilung Feld Artillerie Regiment 53 with the 3. Ersatz Batterie.

Anon

[Kohima]

Wouldn’t the 3. Batterie be part of I. Abteilung, Rather than II. Abt.?

I’m not commenting on the originality of the disc, just curious about the formation.
Cheers,
Rob

[BlackCat1982]

Hi Andy,

Fd stands for Feld, Abt should be Abteilung and Batt should be batterie. If I’m correct he would have served in the 2. Ersatz Abteilung Feld Artillerie Regiment 53 with the 3. Ersatz Batterie.

Anon

Not quite correct Anon, the two lines of text are two different units. The top line refers to Otto’s initial unit he was attached to. The second line is the unit he was posted to.

[Anon]

My bad! You are right these are 2 different units.

Anon

[AndyM35]

Not quite correct Anon, the two lines of text are two different units. The top line refers to Otto’s initial unit he was attached to. The second line is the unit he was posted to.

Thanks for having a look everyone.

BlackCat, have you been able to find out any further info on Otto to see if he even existed? Would seem odd to fake something and not bother adding the address, but I agree and from what I’ve seen so far a lot do did to have addresses while some seem to only have the home town. Below is a photo of the letters scratched into the front that I’ve played in an attempt to highlight them a bit better.

[BlackCat1982]

Thanks for having a look everyone.

BlackCat, have you been able to find out any further info on Otto to see if he even existed? Would seem odd to fake something and not bother adding the address, but I agree and from what I’ve seen so far a lot do did to have addresses while some seem to only have the home town. Below is a photo of the letters scratched into the front that I’ve played in an attempt to highlight them a bit better.

I haven’t located any Otto Korn in Eberswalde. There are 29 so named on the VDK database, so not a particularly unusual name. Four of the 29 only have death dates and rank, but none fit with being in artillery. I had not spotted the scratched characters before - look like “2 M” to me and I have no idea what this might signify.