I forgot, Claas, do you have this one? Dwight
I forgot, Claas, do you have this one? Dwight
Yes, I have.
Today I got my medal, which I had bought a month ago on ebay. And I discovered, that it looks somewhat different than in post #70 shown.
Here the comparison:
From post #70 (Did anyone have a bigger picture of it?)
And here my "new" medal:
Did anyone see the difference?
Look at Paul's shoulders. On my medal he has epaulets (is this the correct word?)
The back seems be the same.
Any explanation for that?
Regards
Claas
Claas: That's an interesting observation. So, I offer this; Despite all that was said at the time, and since, the fact is that the entire cargo submarine project was an Etappendienst operation, and Norddeutsche Lloyd and the Deutsche Ozean Reederei were fronts. Paul König and all the other crewmen on the U-Deutschland were men who had been pulled from the ranks of the Kaiserlichemarine. The stated purpose was to break the British blockade and open supply lines between the United States and Germany for raw materials that German industry needed to continue the war. There was no espionage or sabotage involved. It was an officially sanctioned, controlled commercial venture run by the Eatppendienst. With that in mind, maybe the designer of that medallion added the naval officer's epaulettes because König was in fact a serving officer with the rank of Kapitäleutnant. Just a guess. Dwight
Claas,
Interesting specimen you've acquired.
Two other observations would I offer to yours and Dwight's:
1. The medallion is golden, not silver, which somewhat tends to add more significance in the pecking order of such things, and,
2. The tailoring fold/crease line on the right side front of the captain's coat breast has been removed from the golden struck coin. This may have been done so as not to create clutter, e.g. detract from the epaulets. In other words, the line had previously broken up the blank space on the jacket front but may have created a tendency to draw attention away from the epaulets, once they were added to the coin obverse. Artistic folks tend to think like that.
While this diagonal jacket incision (left side of coin - right side of jacket) is somewhat visible in my posting number seventy, it is easier to observe in the enlargeable post number seventy-five. Click the pix and see.
I'm with Dwight on the reason these epaulets were added to König's jacket, but I'd even go so far as saying that the golden coin was, in all likelihood, struck sometime after April of 1917, as the Kapitän's hoped-for civilian persona was probably maintained at least until then.
STBaltimore
Last edited by STBaltimore; 03-13-2012 at 02:40 PM. Reason: additional thoughts added
Maybe the silver coin was struck for foreign distribution and the gold coin for domestic.
Steve
Just now through all 19 pages.
Very very interesting. Thanks for posting all.
Im into subs but much to my chagrin must admit, that Ive never heard about the 'Deutschland.'
I will certainly look into it.
Keep up the good work, guys.
Scout: Thanks for looking in and be sure to come back because there is more to come. Dwight
I certainly look forward to it.
Huge amount of interesting info here.
Great that you guys share what must have been accumulated over years of research.....and blood sweat and tears...
Scout: More like cash, puzzlement, and frustration.
Similar Threads
Bookmarks