WW1 / WW2 / 20th Century

1929 Graf Zeppelin Round the World, White Bisque Porcelain Meissen Medal 1929. Flat Rimmed, with Silvered Zeppellin

From a small collection of most rare Meissen porcelain medals of the Graf Zeppelin round the world flight. three different variations of the same medal. Perfect for either early aviation and airship collectors, rare medal collectors, or collectors of finest German porcelain from the Weimar period.

The photos show the medal as somewhat grey porcelain, because, although it is brilliant white in reality, we have to darken it in the gallery in order to photograph its detail. See photo 6 in the gallery showing its more accurate whiteness, but no detail can be seen.

This rare medal was made by the famous Meissen factory in Germany to commemorate the first circumnavigation of the world by an airship, the ‘Graf Zeppelin’ in August 1929. Designed by Ludwig Durr but conceived and operated by Dr Hugo Eckener, Chairman of the German company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, the rigid airship was built at their works at Friedrichshafen between 1926 and 1928 and was intended to demonstrate the viability of intercontinental commercial air travel. It was the largest airship in the world at that time.

Co-sponsored by the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the round the world flight took off from Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey, on 8 August heading east with Eckener in command. As well as the crew there were 20 passengers on board and four Hearst staff including the Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins, a cameraman and a British reporter, Lady Grace Drummond-Hay, who became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air. Having refuelled at Friedrichshafen the flight continued across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Tokyo, then on to California, landing at Los Angeles to complete the first ever nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean. The final leg from Los Angeles to Lakehurst ended on 29 August, three weeks after the airship had departed. Actual flying time was 12 days, 12 hours, and 13 minutes, the fastest circumnavigation of the globe at the time.

The company then used the airship on its transatlantic service and for 5 years provided a commercial passenger and mail service between Germany and Brazil. ‘Graf Zeppelin’ made 590 flights totalling almost 1.7 million kilometres and was the first aircraft to fly over a million miles. It flew a total of 17,177 hours (nearly two years), without injuring a passenger or crewman. It was operated by a crew of 36, and could carry 24 passengers, who were treated to 3 hot meals a day with fine wines in the dining room and entertainment on board. The operational spaces, common areas, and passenger sleeping cabins were built into a gondola structure beneath the airframe.

Eckener had been outspoken in his dislike of the Nazi Party so that when they took power in 1933 he was replaced by his former colleague Lehmann and the ‘Graf Zeppelin’ was commandeered for a new airline. The Nazis used the airship as a propaganda tool until it was withdrawn from service after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. The airship was scrapped and the metal airframes melted down for military aircraft production in 1940 - a dismal end for the most successful airship of all time, about which Lady Drummond-Hay had written:

“The Graf Zeppelin is a ship with a soul. You have only to fly in it to know that it's a living, vibrant, sensitive and magnificent thing”

With its extraordinary fineness and silky matt surface, bisque porcelain exudes an unmistakable charm. Sculptural qualities, modelling skills and decorations such as reliefs are shown to full effect and are further accentuated by the material’s fascinating tactile quality. Developed in the 18th century by the French painter Jean-Jacques, the fine material rose to prominence as a substitute for ivory, alabaster and marble in the manufacture of the Château Vincennes. To this day, bisque porcelain is often compared to marble because of its unique way of diffusing light rather than reflecting it. At MEISSEN, this effect and material quality is achieved by polishing the unglazed surface of fired porcelain pieces in painstaking detail, resulting in the bisque's characteristic velvety soft surfaces.

Porcelain in its purest form. Contrary to popular belief, bisque porcelain has the same properties as its glazed counterparts in terms of density, hardness, strength and resistance. By omitting the glaze, details, such as sculptural swerves, elaborate embossing work and decorations, such as reliefs, are highlighted and given a unique tactile quality, showing off the skills of Meissen artisans in a particularly compelling way.  read more

Code: 25120

Germany 1912 Gordon Bennett Zeppelin Airship Flight, 12 Poster Vignette Cinderella Stamps

Original, period vignette for 1912 Gordon Bennett air show with pioneering German Zeppelin before WWI. Size 1.5 x 2 inches Gum: MH {Mint Hinged} Photographed against a card background, but all the stamps are gummed and separate.

Very rare to get large number sets. Two sets of x 12, we have 24 but we have split them for sale into 2 sets of 12.

The 1914 Cazin and Rochas catalog claims they were printed in nine colours of ink on nine different papers

The Gordon Bennett Cup (or Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett) is the world's oldest gas balloon race, and is "regarded as the premier event of world balloon racing" according to the Los Angeles Times. Referred to as the "Blue Ribbon" of aeronautics, the first race started from Paris, France, on September 30, 1906. The event was sponsored by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald newspaper. According to the organizers, the aim of the contest "is simple: to fly the furthest distance from the launch site." The contest ran from 1906 to 1938, interrupted by World War I and in 1931, but was suspended in 1939 when the hosts, Poland, were invaded at the start of World War II. The event was not resurrected until 1979, when American Tom Heinsheimer, an atmospheric physicist, gained permission from the holders to host the trophy.

With its extraordinary fineness and silky matt surface, bisque porcelain exudes an unmistakable charm. Sculptural qualities, modelling skills and decorations such as reliefs are shown to full effect and are further accentuated by the material’s fascinating tactile quality. Developed in the 18th century by the French painter Jean-Jacques, the fine material rose to prominence as a substitute for ivory, alabaster and marble in the manufacture of the Château Vincennes. To this day, bisque porcelain is often compared to marble because of its unique way of diffusing light rather than reflecting it. At MEISSEN, this effect and material quality is achieved by polishing the unglazed surface of fired porcelain pieces in painstaking detail, resulting in the bisque's characteristic velvety soft surfaces.

Porcelain in its purest form. Contrary to popular belief, bisque porcelain has the same properties as its glazed counterparts in terms of density, hardness, strength and resistance. By omitting the glaze, details, such as sculptural swerves, elaborate embossing work and decorations, such as reliefs, are highlighted and given a unique tactile quality, showing off the skills of Meissen artisans in a particularly compelling way  read more

Code: 25113

Germany 1912 Gordon Bennett Zeppelin Airship Flight, 12 Poster Vignette Cinderella Stamps

Original, period vignette for 1912 Gordon Bennett air show with pioneering German Zeppelin before WWI. Size 1.5 x 2 inches Gum: MH {Mint Hinged} Photographed against a card background, but all the stamps are gummed and separate.

Very rare to get large number sets. Two sets of x 12, we have 24 but we have split them for sale into 2 sets of 12.

The 1914 Cazin and Rochas catalog claims they were printed in nine colours of ink on nine different papers

The Gordon Bennett Cup (or Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett) is the world's oldest gas balloon race, and is "regarded as the premier event of world balloon racing" according to the Los Angeles Times. Referred to as the "Blue Ribbon" of aeronautics, the first race started from Paris, France, on September 30, 1906. The event was sponsored by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald newspaper. According to the organizers, the aim of the contest "is simple: to fly the furthest distance from the launch site." The contest ran from 1906 to 1938, interrupted by World War I and in 1931, but was suspended in 1939 when the hosts, Poland, were invaded at the start of World War II. The event was not resurrected until 1979, when American Tom Heinsheimer, an atmospheric physicist, gained permission from the holders to host the trophy.  read more

Code: 25112

A Very Good British WW1, 1915, .455 MKVI Revolver Holster. An Absolute Corker!

The standard-issue Webley revolver at the outbreak of the First World War was the Webley Mk V (adopted 9 December 1913, but there were considerably more Mk IV revolvers in service in 1914, as the initial order for 20,000 Mk V revolvers had not been completed when hostilities began. On 24 May 1915, the large calibre Webley Mk VI .455 {manstopper} was adopted as the standard sidearm for British and Commonwealth troops and remained so for the duration of the First World War, being issued to officers, airmen, naval crews, boarding parties, trench raiders, machine-gun teams, and tank crews. The Mk VI proved to be a very reliable and hardy weapon, well suited to the mud and adverse conditions of trench warfare, and several accessories were developed for the Mk VI, including a bayonet (made from a converted French Gras bayonet), speedloader devices (the "Prideaux Device" and the Watson design), and a stock allowing for the revolver to be converted into a carbine.

Demand exceeded production, which was already behind as the war began. This forced the British government to buy substitute weapons chambered in .455 Webley from neutral countries. America provided the Smith & Wesson 2nd Model "Hand Ejector" and Colt New Service Revolvers.  read more

Code: 21348

A Rare and Very Fine WW1 German Sniper's Scharfschutzengewehr Optical Scope. Some Of The Best & Most Desirable Sniper Scopes Are 20th Century Fine German Examples Such As This

WW1 German Sniper Optical Scope, steel body scope with bracket fittings to the lower section. Top focusing mount is maker marked “Rudiger & Bischoff Braunschweig”. Remains of the blued finish. Optics remain clear. Photo in the gallery of German snipers in WW1 and a cabinet of original snipers kit, including the rifle and sniper site, in the Imperial War Museum. During World War I, snipers appeared as deadly sharpshooters in the trenches. At the start of the war, only Imperial Germany had troops that were issued scoped sniper rifles. Although sharpshooters existed on all sides, the Germans specially equipped some of their soldiers with scoped rifles that could pick off enemy soldiers showing their heads out of their trench. At first the French and British believed such hits to be coincidental hits, until the German scoped rifles were discovered. During World War I, the German army received a reputation for the deadliness and efficiency of its snipers, partly because of the high-quality lenses that German industry could manufacture.

During the First World War, the static movement of trench warfare and a need for protection from snipers created a requirement for loopholes both for discharging firearms and for observation. Often a steel plate was used with a "key hole", which had a rotating piece to cover the loophole when not in use.Imperial German Scharfschutzengewehr (Sharpshooters rifle in German) Model 1898 sniper rifle in 7.92x57 or more commonly known as 8mm Mauser. At the beginning of World War 1 no country had a "sniper program" as we know it today. Germany in 1915 outfitted the most experienced marksmen (typically pre-war game wardens and poachers) with specially selected factory rifles and equiped them with optical hunting sights. These early telescopic sights usually consisted of 2.5x, 3x and 4x power, produced by manufactures like Görtz, Gérard, Oige, Zeiss, Hensoldt, Voigtländer Rudiger & Bischoff and various civilian models from manufacturers like Bock, Busch and Füss. These rifles were standard 1898 Military Model which held exceptionaly high accuracy at the factory. They were fitted with a Model 1898AZ carbine bolt and optic and issued to an individual Soldier (Soldat) instead of a unit. Due to the very high usage of steel armor piercing ammunition the barrels were rapidly erroded and the life span for accuracy was between 1000-2500 rounds, often less, before having to be replaced. Soon the British army began to train their own snipers in specialized sniper schools. Major Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard was given formal permission to begin sniper training in 1915, and founded the First Army School of Sniping, Observation, and Scouting at Linghem in France in 1916. Starting with a first class of only six, in time he was able to lecture to large numbers of soldiers from different Allied nations, proudly proclaiming in a letter that his school was turning out snipers at three times the rate of any such other school in the world.

He also devised a metal-armoured double loophole that would protect the sniper observer from enemy fire. The front loophole was fixed, but the rear was housed in a metal shutter sliding in grooves. Only when the two loopholes were lined up—a one-to-twenty chance—could an enemy shoot between them. Another innovation was the use of a dummy head to find the location of an enemy sniper. The papier-mâché figures were painted to resemble soldiers to draw sniper fire. Some were equipped with rubber surgical tubing so the dummy could "smoke" a cigarette and thus appear realistic. Holes punched in the dummy by enemy sniper bullets then could be used for triangulation purposes to determine the position of the enemy sniper, who could then be attacked with artillery fire. He developed many of the modern techniques in sniping, including the use of spotting scopes and working in pairs, and using Kim's Game to train observational skills. An original complete Imperial German Scharfschutzengewehr (Sharpshooters rifle in German) Model 1898 GEW98 rifle, with its scope, just as this one, can now fetch over $11,000.  read more

Code: 23342

An Original, WW1, German Kaiserliche Marine Vickers-Maxim I Pounder Pom Pom Shell

Imperial Kaiserliche Marine Stamped. A superb fuzed shell head fully stamped and marked. With a 37mm calibre the water-cooled, belt-fed Maxim-Nordenfeldt (among others, with variants produced as Vickers-Maxim and Hotchkiss-Maxim) was the smallest item of artillery used during that war and boasted a firing rate of 60 rounds per minute, utilising a belt of 25 one-pound shells, each shell covering a distance ranging up to 3,000 yards. In World War I, it was used as an early anti-aircraft gun in the home defence of Britain. It was adapted as the Mk I*** and Mk II on high-angle pedestal mountings and deployed along London docks and on rooftops on key buildings in London, others on mobile motor lorries at key towns in the East and Southeast of England. 25 were employed in August 1914, and 50 in February 1916. A Mk II gun (now in the Imperial War Museum, London) on a Naval pedestal mounting was the first to open fire in defence of London during the war. However, the small shell was insufficient to damage the German Zeppelin airships sufficiently to bring them down. The Ministry of Munitions noted in 1922: "The pom-poms were of very little value. There was no shrapnel available for them, and the shell provided for them would not burst on aeroplane fabric but fell back to earth as solid projectiles were of no use except at a much lower elevation than a Zeppelin attacking London was likely to keep"

Nevertheless, Lieutenant O.F.J. Hogg of No. 2 AA Section in III Corps was the first anti-aircraft gunner to shoot down an aircraft, with 75 rounds on 23 September 1914 in France.

The gun was experimentally mounted on aircraft as the lighter 1-pounder Mk III, the cancelled Vickers E.F.B.7 having been specifically designed to carry it in its nose.
Hiram Maxim originally designed the Pom-Pom in the late 1880s as an enlarged version of the Maxim machine gun. Its longer range necessitated exploding projectiles to judge range, which in turn dictated a shell weight of at least 400 grams (0.88 lb), as that was the lightest exploding shell allowed under the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 and reaffirmed in the Hague Convention of 1899. Dated 1905. Not suitable for export, empty inert and safe.  read more

Code: 20782

A Superb Group of Four Medals WW1 Trio, and Third Afghan War, 1919 Afghanistan Bar, India General Service Medal

The North Staffordshire Regiment served with heroism and distinction in WW1, and the 2nd battalion served in Afghanistan after WW1 in 1919.
In May 1919, as the world recovered from the First World War, Afghanistan invaded British India. A daring move, the invasion took the British and Indian governments by surprise. To repel the Afghans, they launched a massive land and air campaign, mobilising a third of a million troops. Despite facing this military might, the Afghans - aided by the North-West Frontier tribes - almost won the war.


Frontier Assault tells the story of the Third Anglo-Afghan War through the eyes of the men who fought it. The North Staffordshire Regiment was one of the first units dispatched to halt the Afghan advance. They defeated the enemy vanguard in a tenacious mountain assault in the Khyber Pass. After, they led the British counter-attack into Afghanistan.

In WW1 the regiment were part of the Staffordshire Brigade,

Private Sidney Richards, who came from West Bromwich and had been employed as a clerk before the war, served with the Machine Gun Section of the. He recorded his experiences in his pocket diary:

2nd April Rifle inspection. Marched to trench at Messines. Took trenches over from 3rd Monmouths.

3rd April On look-out. Duty man in my trench had his brains blown out by a sniper. Raining very heavy.

4th April Raining heavy. Had no rations brought to us. Shortage of water. Up to our knees in mud.

5th April Simply awful. Raining all day and night. Shells bursting all over the shop. All I have to eat is 1 biscuit - would give a fortune for a dish of tea.

6th April More shells. Plenty of mud. Weather a little better. Relieved at 10 p.m. Got to camp 2 a.m. Wed.The threat posed by snipers was a constant feature of trench warfare. Initially at least, the units of the Brigade were woefully ill-equipped to conduct sniping from their own lines, as they had neither specialist rifles or telescopic sights. Several men had lucky escapes, such as Sergeant C. F. Rose, a soldier from Stone serving with the 1/5th North Staffords:

"I had a narrow shave of getting blinded in both eyes. I was looking at the German trenches through a periscope, when a German sniper hit the top glass with a bullet, and the glass falling in small pieces filled my eyes. I thought I had been shot, for it was sharp work for the eyes. I am getting on all right now, but have been pretty bad."

Captain William Millner of the 1/5th South Staffords also narrowly avoided being killed while sniping on 5th May. One of the best shots in the country at that time, Millner was an excellent candidate for the role. While observing German movements from the barn of one of the farms close to the front line, he too was wounded by an enemy sniper. The bullet hit the cap badge of his service dress cap and creased his skull. Luckily, his injury was not serious and after a brief period of recovery returned to his battalion.

German snipers were also quarry for the Staffords, patrols being sent out into "No-Man's Land" to hunt them down. Sergeant Sydney Norton, a member of "C" Company, 1/6th North Staffords, reported the results of one such patrol in a letter to his wife in Tamworth:

"...me and another Sergt. the day before found a sniper. We watched his antics for two hours and I placed the rifle at him, bowled him over the third shot and then got back to our trench. It's clinking sport like looking for game. They are very smart. We saw a dead cow in front of our trench. We fired a volley into it and the next day the Sergts. went out and found a dead sniper inside it, so you can tell the antics of war craft they get up to."

The last photo in the gallery is of Frontier Assault by James Green not included with group, just a suggestion. This might make a nice North Staffordshire Regt. Afghan War history book accompaniment for the medal  read more

Code: 25071

A Very Rare, Original, 1913, Silver Medal Of The Crash of Imperial German Naval Airship L2 in Johannisthal

Silver medal 1913. (Lauer) On the crash of the naval airship L 2 in Johannisthal. Icarus lying on the ground, phoenix rising above it burning, falling airship. Hallmark: silver 990, 33.3 mm, 17.5 g. Coll. Joos a. 293 Kaiser 397. Very rare. Matted, small scratches, extremely fine The Johannisthal air disaster was one of the first multiple-fatality air disasters in history. It involved the Imperial German Navy's L 2 airship manufactured by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin as LZ 18. Its test flight resulted in the death of all 28 passengers and crew on board. On 17 October 1913, at approximately 10:30am local time, hydrogen gas which was being vented was sucked into the forward engine and ignited causing the airship to explode and burn. It crashed near Johannisthal Air Field about 10 miles southeast of Berlin. This accident occurred a little over a month after the Helgoland Island Air Disaster.The "Almanac and Year-Book for 1914" reported that the airship "was destroyed by the explosion of a gasoline tank, which occurred as the ship was making a trial trip above the city of Johannisthal, near Berlin. All except one of the twenty-seven military men on board, including the entire admiralty trial board, were killed.

Thousands, who had been watching the evolutions of the L-2, which, if accepted, was to have been the flagship of Germany's new aerial fleet, heard a heavy detonation and saw the craft suddenly become enveloped in flames and drop to the ground from a height of 900 feet.

On reaching the spot in the highway where the airship fell the spectators found nothing but a mass of crumpled aluminium and twisted wreckage. The only man found alive was Lieut. Baron von Bieul, a guest on the trip, who was fatally injured. The passengers of the centre gondola were blown through the sides of the car by the explosion and their bodies fell a quarter of a mile away from the wreck of the dirigible.

The pilot of the airship was Capt. Gluth, who had been in Count Zeppelin's employ for a long time.

The admiralty trial board consisted of seven officers, including Lieutenant-Commander Behnish, and Lieut. Freyer, both personal friends of Emperor William, Naval Constructors Neumann and Pietzler, Naval Engineer Busch, Lieut. Trenk and Chief Engineer Haussmann were among the others killed."  read more

Code: 23640

A Very Attractive Pre WW1 German Military Beer Stein of the 46th Artillery

Souvenir of service for a WW1 volunteer.An Imperial Prussian stein for 4 Battery, Niedersachs Feld Artillery, Regt. 46, for the years 1904-1906. Lower Saxony Field Artillery Regiment No. 46. The recipient then volunteered back into the regiment and served in WW1. Superbly decorated. Transfer glazed with hand painted highlights with scenes of the field artillery in combat. Personally named 'in memory of my service' to the recipient 'Kanonier Bahrwald', and further named with every man's name from the regiment 47 names in all Souvenirs of service were purchased by reservists once there service was finished, in this case 1906. Steins seem to have been the most popular purchases. The period of popularity extended from the mid 1890s until the onset of World War I. Examples exist from the 1850s on, but were few in number and individually purchased items. Almost all early examples came from Bavarian units. Steins with wartime dates also exist but the demands of the war in terms of men and material effectively ended the manufacture of regimental steins as we know them.
Steins were ordered from military shops in the area around the garrison town or through the representatives of stein manufacturers. Normally ordered in the spring, they were delivered in early September, just prior to mustering out. The average cost approximated a month?s salary for a German private of that period. The base shows when lit internally the hidden factory 'watermark' in the porcelain. The base also has two old damage areas where the base has been penetrated and in other one area fixed see photo The lid's artillery cannon has the barrel lacking. The Regiment was part of the 20th Infantry Division in WW1. Their actions in WW1 were as follows Calendar of battles and engagements
20th Infantry Division (Western Front)
08.08.-08.16.1914 Conquest of Li?ge
23.08.-08.24.1914 Battle of Namur
29.08.-08.30.1914 Battle of St. Quentin
06.09.-09.09.1914 Battle of Petit-Morin
12.09.-09.13.1914 Fighting at Reims
13.09.1914-18.04.1915 Fighting at the Aisne
21.04.-04.30.1915 Transport to the east
20th Infantry Division (Eastern Front)
05.05.-05.23.1915 Pursuits after the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow
16.05.-05.23.1915 Crossing over the San
24.05.-05.26.1915 Fight at Radymno and San
27.05.-04.06.1915 Fight at the bridgehead of Jaroslau
12.06.-06.15.1915 Breakthrough battle at Lubaczow
17.06.-06.22.1915 Battle of Lviv
22.06.-07.16.1915 Pursuit battles on the Galician-Polish border
16.07.-07.18.1915 Breakthrough Battle of Krasnostaw
19.07.-07.28.1915 Fighting after the breakthrough battle of Krasnostaw
29.07.-07.30.1915 Breakthrough Battle of Biskupice
31.07.-08.10.1915 Pursuit battles from Wieprz to Bug
12.09.-09.26.1915 Reserve of OH-L. and transport to the west
20th Infantry Division (Western Front)
27.09.-10.18.1915 Autumn Battle in Champagne
31.10.1915-16.05.1916 Fighting at the Aisne
03/10/1916 Storming of the mountain at La Ville aux Bois
18.05.-01.06.1916 Transport to the east
20th Infantry Division (Eastern Front)
14.06.-07.15.1916 Fights on Stochod
16.07.-07.27.1916 Fighting on the upper Styr-Stochod
28.07.-04.11.1916 Battle of Kovel
05.11.-11.18.1916 Positional fights on ob. Styr-Stochod
20.11.-11.25.1916 Transport to the west
20th Infantry Division (Western Front)
26.11.1916-05.01.1917 training
06.01.-02.03.1917 Fighting at the Aisne
10.04.-05.08.1917 Battle of the Aisne
15.05.-04.07.1917 Positional fights in Champagne
05.07.-07.12.1917 Transport to the east
20th Infantry Division (Eastern Front)
13.07.-07.22.1917 Fighting on the Lomnica near Kalusz
23.07.-07.30.1917 Pursuit battles in eastern Galicia
31.07.-02.08.1917 Fighting for Zbrucz, between Zbrucz and Sereth
03.08.-08.16.1917 Position fights between Zbrucz and Sereth
30.08.-08.31.1917 Position fights before Riga
01.09.-05.09.1917 Battle for Riga
09/02/1917 Fights on the Big Jail
09/03/1917 Wholesale Kangern
09/04/1917 Conquest of Bh. Hinzenberg
09/04/1917 Pursuit battles towards the Riga-Wenden road
06.09.-09.10.1917 Positional fighting north of the D?na
10.09.-09.20.1917 Transport to the west
20th Infantry Division (Western Front)
27.09.-10.10.1917 Battle in Flanders
20.11.1917-17.02.1918 Positional fights in the Artois
20.11.-11.29.1917 The tank battle at Cambrai
30.11.-07.12.1917 Attack Battle at Cambrai
18.02.-03.20.1918 Training and march to the "Great Battle of France"
21.03.-04.06.1918 Great battle in France
21.03.-03.23.1918 Breakthrough Battle Monchy-Cambrai
21.03.-03.23.1918 Fight for Morchies and Beugny
24.03.-03.25.1918 Battle of Bapaume
22.04.-05.25.1918 Fighting positions between Maas and Mosel: on the Maashohe at Lamorville-Spada and St. Mihiel
25.05.-06.25.1918 Reserve of OH-L. at Arlon
18.07.-07.26.1918 Defensive battle between Soissons and Reims
27.07.-03.08.1918 The mobile defensive battle between Marne and Vesle
03.08.-08.17.1918 Reserve Army Group German Kronprinz or Boehn
28.08.-02.09.1918 Battle of Monchy-Bapaume
06.09.-09.26.1918 Fighting in front of the Siegfried Front
27.09.-08.10.1918 Defensive battle between Cambrai and St. Quentin
03.11.-11.11.1918 Defensive battle on the Maas
03.11.-11.11.1918 Defensive battles between Maas and Beaumont
12.11.-12.23.1918 Clearance of the occupied territory and march home 12 inches high overall  read more

Code: 21788

A Superb 'Top Secret' 'Ball Race', A Spare Part of the World Famous 'Little Boy' Bomb , The Very First Atom Bomb Ever Made, and Used in WW2

This amazing piece of history has just returned from use in a documentary on the Manhattan Project and Professor Oppenheimer, as can be seen in the current worldwide movie hit, 'Oppenheimer'

It is the second, 'back-up' spare part that we owned, the first spare part we sold previously, for the infamous 'Little Boy' bomb, the 1st ever Uranium Bomb, that ultimately led to the end of WW2 in Japan, and although devastating to Japan, saved many, many millions of lives, including the hundreds of thousands of allied WW2 POWs in Japanese slave and torture camps, who were to be instantly executed, under Imperial decree, the moment an allied soldier stepped foot on Japanese soil. And, not forgetting the imperial general staff order that every man woman and child in Japan were instructed to kill an allied invading soldier, by whatever means, and every Japanese citizen was ordered to fight to the death, and never surrender. Another most interesting and historical fact, not often known by most today, was that the emperor realised once the atom bombs were dropped, and their god like devastating power revealed, Japan was utterly lost, and what remained of his empire and his people must be saved.

Thus he decided to announce Japan's unconditional surrender. However, considerable elements of the general staff had other ideas, and passionately opposed this decision, so much so, despite him being regarded as a god, an assasination squad under command of Major Hatanaki a fiery eyed zealot, was despatched to the imperial palace to kill him. Fortunately for the world his most faithful and devoted aide hid him in a special protected room, and thus the emperor was able to escape and make his momentous surrender broadcast, and the rest, as they say, is history. In the days that followed the emperor’s radio address, at least eight generals killed themselves. On one afternoon, Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, commander of the Fifth Air Fleet on the island of Kyushu, drank a farewell cup of sake with his staff and drove to an airfield where 11 D4Y Suisei dive-bombers were lined up, engines roaring. Before him stood 22 young men, each wearing a white headband emblazoned with a red rising sun.

Ugaki climbed onto a platform and, gazing down on them, asked, “Will all of you go with me?”

“Yes, sir!” they all shouted, raising their right hands in the air.

“Many thanks to all of you,” he said. He climbed down from the stand, got into his plane, and took off. The other planes followed him into the sky.

Aloft, he sent back a message: “I am going to proceed to Okinawa, where our men lost their lives like cherry blossoms, and ram into the arrogant American ships, displaying the real spirit of a Japanese warrior.”

Ugaki’s kamikazes flew off toward the expected location of the American fleet. Fortunately they were never heard from again.
Although barely 76 years old, it is probably one of the rarest items we are ever likely to offer. A unique survivor of the most expensive and intense top secret project of WW2. A superb, micro engineered gyro ball race. We had both spare part Gyro Ball Races, and the other one previously, that we had, we sold to an American private museum collector. This is the secondary spare part, that we acquired from the late collection of Professor Samuel Eilenberg, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Columbia University in WW2, that we are delighted to offer for sale. The first, 'principle' part, was used during the construction of 'Little Boy' Uranium Bomb, part of the ultra top secret 'Manhattan Project' and evaporated in the detonation. However, there were two spare parts made at Los Alamos, and we were delighted and most privileged to have acquired both of them. The 1st 'spare' part, we sold earlier, was engraved, this second back-up spare part, was not with it's Los Alamos part code; GYRO PT MK3 A. Code L.B.BOMB. That first spare part we sold recently to a private museum in Florida, USA, this, our second example another MK3 A, is plain and un-engraved, and the 'back-up' spare part. Apparently most component parts of both bombs made at Los Alamos code names; 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' had spare parts, and 'back-up' spare parts, constructed. Importantly, if a main part was damaged in assembly they could not wait the many months it would take for a spare to be made, potentially at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus prudently, emergency spares, and secondary spares, were required. Souvenirs of the Manhattan Project were later officially gifted or presented to many of the consultants and scientists working on, or associated with, the greatest secret project of the 20th century, once the project was officially closed down by the lead physicist Dr. Oppenheimer. For information purposes the diameter of the ball race is 160mm which is within a small tolerance of the diameter of the gun barrel 165mm that barrel was central to the construction of 'Little Boy'. This measurement may indeed be a clue to the relevance to the ball races actual function or use within the project. Unfortunately due to the top secret nature of the whole event Prof Eilenberg did not reveal the ball races specific function, or, even his, no doubt significant, personal contribution, within the project, before his death in January 1998, only that he acquired them at Los Alamos in August 1945, apparently personally given by Oppenheimer. Much of the full schematics are still officially 'Top Secret'. The first spare that we sold was accompanied by top secret Royal Naval photos, and the id plate of the projector used to show the professors, physicists and scientists working on the project, the film of the dropping of 'Little Boy' by the Enola Gay. We show for information only those photos and id plate, but they are not included with this back-up spare part. We also show the engraving, as was on the original spare part we sold, but it is not on this 'back-up' spare. The Manhattan Project was the project to develop the first nuclear weapon (atomic bomb) during World War II by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Formally designated as the Manhattan Engineer District (MED), it refers specifically to the period of the project from 1941–1946 under the control of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, under the administration of General Leslie R. Groves. The scientific research was directed by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The project succeeded in developing and detonating three nuclear weapons in 1945: a test detonation of a plutonium implosion bomb on July 16 (the Trinity test) near Alamogordo, New Mexico; an enriched uranium bomb code-named "Little Boy" on August 6 over Hiroshima, Japan; and a second plutonium bomb, code-named "Fat Man" on August 9 over Nagasaki, Japan.

The project's roots lay in scientists' fears since the 1930s that Nazi Germany was also investigating nuclear weapons of its own. Born out of a small research program in 1939, the Manhattan Project eventually employed more than 130,000 people and cost nearly $2 billion USD ($23 billion in 2007 dollars based on CPI). It resulted in the creation of multiple production and research sites that operated in secret.

The three primary research and production sites of the project were the plutonium-production facility at what is now the Hanford Site, the uranium-enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the weapons research and design laboratory, now known as Los Alamos National Laboratory. Project research took place at over thirty different sites across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The MED maintained control over U.S. weapons production until the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission in January 1947. We also have an original photo print taken from HMS Colossus, part of 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron, that was based in the Pacific, commanded by Rear Admiral Harcourt. It was taken on 7th August 1945 the day after Little Boy was detonated. It is a picture of two I/d profiles of two Japanese T/E fighters that were originally observed in July 1945. These photographs were sent to the Manhattan Project HQ, but why, to us, this remains a mystery. Also, another souvenir, the serial tag from the Army Air Corps Bell and Howell sound projector, that apparently showed the original film of the detonation of 'Little Boy' to Professor Eilenberg and others from the project after the Enola Gay mission. Those souvenirs we had accompanied the sale of the first and engraved spare ball race, and not this one. We show in the gallery, for information only, a Paul R. Halmos's photograph of Samuel Eilenberg (1913-1998, shielding his face left, and Gordon T. Whyburn (1904-1969) in 1958 at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh. For example, in relation to the desirability of original items connected to this monumentally historical mission, two other souvenirs were sold some 16 years ago in the US. The Little Boy was armed on the mission by removing the green safety plugs, and arming it with red arming plugs. This was undertaken by 23 year old Lt. Morris Richard Jeppson, who armed the bomb during the flight. For this perilous task he was awarded the Silver Star for his unique contribution to the mission. Jeppson, however, kept a few of the green plugs that signified his role in the bombing as souvenirs. He sold two of them in San Francisco for $167,500, at auction, in 2002, however, the US federal government claimed they were classified material and tried, but failed dismally, to block the sale in the courts, however the presiding Judge ruled that all of the Little Boy artefacts, details etc., are effectively, now, in the public domain and free to be sold at will. We were very fortunate to acquire these fascinating pieces, from Prof Eilenberg's collection, from a doctor and lecturer of oriental studies in London, who acquired them himself some years ago from a dear colleague of Prof Eilenberg. This rare piece, the back-up gyro ball race spare part, does not bear engraving, and does not come with the camera plate or official photos, but we can supply copy photo images of the originals. Plus, an all important Certificate of Authenticity.  read more

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