Hi All, Heres another Andys Rubbish and Ramblings to suffer through. It’s a bit late this week but I made it…
A while back we looked at Prussian belts and buckles, buckles with Gott Mit Uns, or God With Us which are a fairly standard item, being part of a waist type belt that formed part of a foot soldiers load bearing equipment and was also worn with a dress uniform. This time we are taking a look at the humble belt buckle issued to Bavarian troops. As part of the German Empire the Kingdom of Bavaria was second in size, power and wealth to Prussia. King Louis the III ruled Bavaria from 1913 to 1918 until being deposed on the night of 7-8th of November 1918. The Bavarian belt buckles bear the motto “In Treue Fest” which I believe roughly translates to” steadfast in loyalty”.
Any Imperial German buckle is interesting, despite the most frequent encountered being Prussian, Bavarian troops accounted for around 11 percent of the total number of Troops fielded by Germany in the Great War (Im happy to be corrected on statistics) so it would be expected that the Bavarian buckles are not as frequently found.
The most common buckles generally being 1895 and 1916 pattern .
These buckles came home in droves, the belts and buckles were a popular and practical souvenir, it is common to find well worn buckles, especially the pressed steel 1916 pattern buckles which lost their finish easily, possibly worn from post war use . The 1895 patten in brass and white metal seem more durable, or at least they don’t have a finish that could be worn off by regular use.
Buckles are interesting, no matter how common they may be. Theres a lot of variation in how they were made, variations in latching, varying degrees of quality and finish, especially with 1916 pattern buckles, there’s often enough variation going on to keep it interesting for the collector.
Remember, imperial buckles are great starter pieces for new collectors, they are ideal for new or young collectors, they provide a lot of variation and can be picked up for modest prices, yes some are very sought after and right up there price wise, however the lower end and cheep buckles can still be a pleasure to collect, you can also pick up a gem if you keep your eyes open at shows.
Feel free to chip in with any comments/corrections, I don’t profess to be an expert and we can all learn from this.
