bought this Luft. Flak man and his wife photo today at a local show. Noticed the ring on his hand,,,

played around on the scanner a little but still could not get an ID on the ring..A nice photo though,,,I have about 10 like this,,so close but just not in focus enough for an ID!! , G.

I smoke one or two cigars only on sunday ( no joke). Interesting photo. The ring looks like one I saw about a year ago , with a bird with the hugh wings spread like a swan. The wings had a decorative open structure. It looked good to me (imo) , but I wasn’t sure because it’s extravagant design .
The ring on the picture however seems to have massive wings. You should think it’s a kind of biker ring. But this ring on the picture proves to be original by this authentic picture.

So Gaspare, for me you deserve two cigars !!

I've gotten a lot of submissions,,,unfortunately most are not good enough to ID the ring..Heres another example,,,Looking good so far for this photo,,,

,,scan at 300, 600,1200, 1500,,a little photoshop,,,doesn't matter, most of the time they just aren't good enough for a 100% ring ID...

O.K., spring is here, everyones busy, things are a little slow so I'll post another of my famous 'close but no cigar'photos..

Heres a nice couple on their wedding day. When I first saw the photo I noticed a wedding band, cufflink, womans ring, mans ring [at first reported as a 'skull ring]...4 items,certainly one out those 4 will show up and be interesting.

well, the cufflink - strike one...

The womans ring - kind of a strike 2
Kind of because not a military/organizational ring. If the photo was flipped I think it looks like a portrait in there [small photo in ring],so it could be a momento mori type ring?

the skull ring? - strike 3....

Yes, no cigar

Yes, finding a photo with a 100% identifiable ring in it is a rare thing!

Frustrating, but usually great photos anyway. I have a few. This one, I don't know if you could call "close": http://daggers.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7480909271/m/9000034863

quote:

Originally posted by Gaspare:
well, the cufflink - strike one...

The womans ring - kind of a strike 2
Kind of because not a military/organizational ring. If the photo was flipped I think it looks like a portrait in there [small photo in ring],so it could be a momento mori type ring?

The woman's ring could be a gemstone with layers: Camee ; made of stone or shell... the design is after the Classic Roman rings. The face of the woman in the ring is "strong aside", like that kind of rings have. Also See the classic hear style. The head fills completly the ring. I tend think this ring is a Camee .

If it's a momento mori ...., so far I understand is it, an object , a memory picture a deceased beloved one.
Here just for showing with this jewelery pin of the 20ties.

Cheers,
Benten

Thats an excellent piece Benten!

Momento Mori rings have been around for hundreds of years..Its a Latin phrase meaning something close to 'Remember you too are mortal and will die'...
Many have a skull motif that sometimes gets confused for German military rings.. Some have a small photo of the departed,,and some a compartment that many think is for SS officers to keep their Cyanide tablets in but in reality for a small clipping of the departeds hair... , G.

Gaspare thanks for your info. As you told about the momento mori rings and the use of the beloved departed's hair, I had to think about the artpieces , around 1800-1900 , inwich are used the deceased's( complete) hair . They are "application-works" behind glass, like paintings, often look like " decorative flower bouquets" .
Till yet, I haven't encountered a momento mori ring , but who knows...
Thanks again,
Benten

Another I can't make out. Too bad; looks like he wanted the ring to be seen.

I forgot to ask if you notice anything funny about his uniform?

BB, what about the uniform?

O.K., went to a military show this past weekend. Did something I never do,,forgot my loop! Seems about half the show did also!
Don't forget the loop, don't forget the loop.

Well, stumbled across this photo. All someone had was a cheapie mag glass and it looked like it is a SS cap skull made into a ring. [wishful think on my part]...

more than likely a skull ring. But no positive ID even scanning with a hi res/dpi.

Hi Gaspare, Do you know what kind of sword that is in your Luft photo? JohnJ

John, first photo. I'm really not a dagger guy but I'm pretty sure thats the 2nd pattern Luft.dagger...,G.

Too bad it wasn't clear, G.. It would show that any desk jockey could buy and wear a skull ring, as we already know........Re: my LW uniform; it probably wasn't a fair question. The swaz on his cap eagle is missing but the photo makes it just look hidden.

Thanks G, I feel like an idiot! I should have seen that it was a dagger. Can you show a close up of the hilt of the sword the second soldier is wearing? Thanks, JohnJ

no problem John...Hilt, knot, gloves, and ring.

Thank you G. I appreciate it. Take care, John.

here's a few more near miss photos..

This one looked like it had real promise,,but upon close up,,no cigar!

another,, but I am thinking this could be a sprial WW ring!?

A Sprial WW ?

cleaning some photos off my hard drive..[photo credit MilitaryFundForum]

This photo looked very promising, but I could never get a close up so off it goes here. Close but no cigar..

here's another. Nice and clear,,but not the rings...

another. This time a wedding photo. Clear etc.,,but not the ring!

really tried with that wedding shot,,but not clear enough..

here we have a KM man.. And again nice and clear,,but not that ring!

One of the most challenging collectibles for just this reason... Ring pix are tough... !!

yes they are!! And, so many photos are with a ring its just either too small or not in focus..

Here's another. Nice and clear,,but just not enough ring showing. Probably a skull...

It does look like a skull ring. Nice photos.

--dj--Joe

heres another. From German eBay.

I almost bought it!, it is clear and the close up should show a interesting ring,,,

well good thing I didn't go for it.. You could blow this up as much as you want,,the one thing you can't make out, :(,

Hello Gaspare, in this case (perhaps we have here a smooth monogramm ring?) you might be right. BUT generally it could be possible that if you hold a photograph in hands and use a magnifying glass you perhaps can reveal details you can´t see by blowing up a scanned pic.
Regards,

Hello Gaspare,
photograph #249206, the navy medical doctor ist such a (typical) case: BTW I do own this pic since the ebay sale and with a lupe you can clearly see that there are two rings side by side. One is a small wedding ring, the other one is a kind of seal ring with two oval plates (one a little larger, one smaller) on top of each other.
No spectacular rings but clearly io see and to classify holding the pic in hands.
On the other hand, your pic #1 is a hard (impossible) case. I have two more, different pics of the same man and in each one he is wearing another (!) ring and -how hard you try- in NO pic you can classify one of the rings.....
Regards,

PS.: The photograph should only show it´s the same person.

Hi Wotan..,, Yeah its so weird. Some photos everything is clear and in focus except the ring! Small pins are hard too, cufflinks almost impossible!
Photos where the ring is clear and identifiable? Very hard to find. I only own about 15. And have 30 or so for my project.
Many times for these portraits, they got all their best stuff on,,best uniform, awards, watch, rings, daggers..
Also,,man! have you seen the price for photos these days! Freaking crazy some of them, especially SS photos. Like my ring photos if a man has a bunch of awards, or a nice clear shot of a dagger,,your going to pay!.. And sometimes,,pay we do

Photos can be tricky, sadly the photographers didnt care much about focusing om the rings. I have the same problem with a few SS (front) photographs i own, the photographer was probably new to taking photos, he made the soldiers a blurry mess but the background christal clear lol.

Sadly dont have many ring photos, the few i have, i'verden already sent you

Hello Gaspare, I do own about 1700 "--wearing---" photographs. Do tell me something about current prices....

Between these wearing pics there are at leats 3 nice and detailed photographs with SSHRs but you need a lupe to really appreciat them.

In studio photographs (which I do prefer) hands are very often covered by gloves as ordered by regulation for walk out dress. Thus immediately eliminates any possibility for seeing any ring.

I do have about 10 truely sharp and detailed ring pics, but these are without any ring collector´s value. These are rings with precious stones or seal rings (not counted a lot of wedding rings). As said, you can see them very detailed but no worth for here. One pic is a wonderful pic of the well known spiral Westwall ring which you already have gotten for your project.

I once have had a Luftwaffe pic with the wearer of a lw observer ring, sharp and detailed as you would hold one in hands. But I do not own it any more. This was easily the most spectacular ring photograph (beneath the SSHRs) I have owned.

Oh, I forgot, there are two or three photographs with not so detailed death head rings, not good enough for scanning.

Nevertheless, rings in photographs do exist and it is woth to check each photograph in regard of rings.

Regards,

well,, here is another one that's close,,but no cigar!

At first I thought 'yeah man we got one!'
But sadly no,,

, and,,here's the close up.. I have an idea but from this photo you know your not going to get a clear , identifiable ring shot.......

,,so,,no SA ring,, no Luft. ring,, no skull ring..

I think its from this series of 'hunter' jewelry..

Oh well,,,maybe next time...........

"Jagdschmuck"
For the girl of a hunter

Interesting-and very nice piece!

photo credit German eBay:

here we have a wonderful clear photo of this soldier.. He looks a little light in the loafers if you know what I mean But who are we to pass judgement,,anyway here's the photo: He sure wants that ring shown!

So we finally get a photo where the ring can clearly be seen. But when enlarged,,,nothing.. No WestWall, no unit ring, no skull... A blank,,,,,,,,,

That's just the "nice" portrait for mutti. We'll keep lookin!

going to try and blend this depressing topic with the 'Near Miss' topic..

well here's another ,,close but no cigar!!

This guy in the middle is full on drunk [?],,,but seems to like his rings.. Too bad you can't make either out..

Here's another from my old files I can now delete..

Photo at first looks promising! They are ring guys for sure making sure their rings appear on the photo..

The other 2 rings some sort of band.. The other,,soldier on left,,that is a skull!,,, but under much enlargement, editing,,,,it looks worse..

No cigar here fellows...........

Tried to upscale the image, idk if it is of any help.

that makes me crazy!!! ring is pretty clear,,,but can make it out or recognize it!

I think it's a ring with a snake pattern.

Something like this..