UBB.threads Forums Uniform & Accessories The Honor Ring Forum Dakring 1942 without Swastica

On the front above are Gotic capitals , I think it is G_B ? Inside is engraved B_G .
May be there is another letter between them.

I can imagine that the local Arabic craftsman did not copy the capitals correct….….for him it are foreign signs in another language…..For us not all of these capitals are to read easily.
Perhaps the German soldier showed him his own ring with these Gotic capitals on it or he draw them on a paper as an example ?

Nice ring, Benten. We're more used to seeing the famous DAK palm tree and swastika emblem. Maybe, by the end of 1942 (after the German defeat at El Alamein), some members of the DAK didn't want a swastika on their ring. Presumably some of them weren't hardcore Nazis to begin with...

not fond of the 1942 date, rest of the ring appears to be ok.

Stephen, yes,I agree.

As a German, you had to join the Wehrmacht. So perhaps not a Nazi. Instead of the DAK emblem, the conservative choice of Old Gotic capitals . I presume these type rings were already finished aside with engraving and niello. The front was left blank for an engraving on request. And the craftsman could deliver the ring within a short time. He just had to engrave the front . May be: "ready while you are waiting" .

Hello Polop,

Please, could you explain: "not found of the 1942 date"?

all original dak rings have the date 1941, i have never seen an original one with a 42 date, they have all been fake, but who knows there could be real ones with 42 date on them but i'm not a fan. lets see what gaspare says

As Benten says an interesting detail is (what appears to be) niello upon the shanks, sometimes niello was also incorporated into the cartouche design, or upgraded with golden highlights. Agree with his assessment that it’s a ready made campaign blank with a niello set pattern that was ready made for the soldier with personalization. 1941 was the founding of the dak, nothing to do with campaign dates, but yes- 1942 was of course a fighting year and an occupation (at least part of the year) year for the dak in North Africa. I think it’s an interesting piece, my thought is it was a German soldier who had obviously not looked into the crystal ball too deeply as to what would come at the end of 1942 and 43,44 etc. Maybe just wanted it made with the date he was there, as campaign pieces tend to be. We know the official patterned and sold dak rings in catalogs had a classic design but of course a traditional dak 41 date with swas and often palm tree etc.

I agree.

This seems a ring from the souk or bazaar that was dated when sold. Quite a bit rarer than the palm tree ones ?

Not sure, Dave- it’s a good question. Certainly anything personalized is of course one of a kind, but the higher quality craftsmanship of the palm and swas, with 1941 and dak in gold or niello is more desirable/valuable in my book. I’d agree a legit campaign piece (assuming that’s what we are looking at) would be rarer, at least in the making, but that’s just a guess. The quality, materials, higher degree of authenticity, and of course- the swas- make those 1941 rings we all know and appreciate the standard, in my opinion.

not a ring that i would want, i posted a 42 dak ring on here years ago, and it was commdend

as a fake simply because it had the wrong date on it. if we accept this ring as real, then we must consider that there could be iron crosses with a 1938 date on them. just my thoughts

I've searched for your DAK ring 1942 , but I didn't find it. Please, could you post it?

Thanks in advance

[img]http://present from my wife[/img]

Thank you for posting this ring.