Gents,
I hope you all finished off the year with something nice to add to your collections..? Most of us likely received a sound financial-thrashing to our 401K plans, stock portfolios, holdings, etc, this past year, I'd venture to say - the upside being, it's always a great feeling to add that next good piece to our collections, no matter how large or how small. A thing of beauty, say, perhaps a fine dagger, an impeccable uniform or rare medal will certainly boost one's general state of well-being and morale. I guess it's sort of a zen-like thing, you know? Even if cash is a little harder to part with these days, go on, treat yourself, it'll make it that much mo' better !
Well, these are the last three pieces that I added to my collection this past 2008 collecting year, an interesting and attractive trio to add to my "shooting-department." These came to me as a Christmas gift from a very good friend and I'm very pleased to be able to share them with you fine gentlemen. Two are parts of old shooting chains that have unfortunately been taken apart, somewhere along the line..? These are individual segments that comprised a much larger Sch�tzen-K�nig's chain, the coveted prize that the top shooter would have been allowed to wear during his/her yearly reign. The articulated parts came in all shapes and sizes, some were minted and dated coins of the realm, some had large, ornamental silver discs, or decorated shields or crosses and all of various dimensions and patterns. Many of the parts would have been designed in both left and right halves, as the chain had to balance properly around the wearer's neck, remember, it grew steadily with the addition of each new king's award. With that in mind, let's have a look ...
The first link is of a stylized Jugendstil or Art-Nouveau design, with a flowing, gilded decorative border and floral/thistle motif. The central area is finely hand-engraved with the king's name, year of the award and the club's name, in this case Waldfrieden, or Forest-Freedom. I haven't researched the crest yet, but it's cut beautifully and the mustachioed little fella at the top is a joy to look at. The gilded reverse is patent-pending marked, as pattern no. 6. This is the first time I've seen such a large 'gesetzlich gesch�tzed' marking, have any of you guys seen anything similar to this one?
