Posted 11 years ago
Poop
(14 items)
This item here was given to me by a good friend who's neighbor had a brother that was in WW1, not to mention this woman is still alive but her brother is not. This belt is an Anchor Brand belt patented Jan.12,1904. At the tip of the other end it reads "QUMSD" and has a bullet engraved on the other side with word "MILLS" on the bullet, while the number 600 is underneath it. Sorry about the photo quality i need a new iPhone, and any close ups can be done in another post if requested, ask and you shall receive :) thanks for looking! And btw ill post this as unsolved because i don't know much about theses buttons on this belt, so any input would be awesome, thanks!!
Theres alot of items in the background ill post someday, I've got alot of antiques :)
Thanks bell!! :) it really is interesting, i don't know what most of the buttons even mean lol
Thanks manikin!!
Thanks for sharing your trench art "hate belt"!
The first two photos show buttons-- many standard German.
The third one is full of US collar discs-- worn on the collars of US uniforms.
It was very typical for soldiers to swap discs and insignia and create a collection. It was also very typical for soldiers to take buttons off of captured soldier uniforms (as well as KIAs).
scott
Why is it called a hate belt? I see some hockey mem. in the background. Sweet! Nice item poop.
I've noticed out friends in Britain have been calling these “trophy belts” rather than “hate belts.” I kind of like that phrase better since most belts include the insignia of their own side’s regiments and allies. However, folks here in the States have been calling them hate belts for generations, so I doubt it will change on my behalf ;)
A bit more on the belt: The Anchor brand is just for the buckle. They made buckles, snaps, etc. for web and leather gear. The belt was actually made by the Mills Company, who pioneered the web gear that eventually supplanted leather goods.
As Scott says, the buttons with crowns are standard WWI German buttons. The plain one near the buckle is also probably German. There seems to be another button near the bottom of the first picture that I can’t see very well that has a crest of some sort. If you can get a better picture I may be able to tell you something about that too. The other plain button in the second picture could be French or Belgian as well as German.
The ones with the American eagle are US Uniform buttons; small for pockets, medium for the front of the jacket and large for the overcoat. The collar disks indicate type of unit (crossed rifles = infantry, crossed cannon = artillery). The numbers are for the regiment, the letters are for the company or battery. Eventually the regiment number was moved to the other collar disk, so there are discs with only the company letter. The ones that say US with entwined letters NA in the middle stand for United States National Army. The National Army was made up of divisions created during the war, and manned by mostly men called up by the draft. 302nd Regiment was part of the 76th Division, The 308th Regiment was part of the 78th Division. Both were part of the National Army and both fought in France in 1918. 76th was drafted from the New England States and northern New York. The 78th was drafted from Delaware, New Jersey, and western New York.
Thanks for all the input scott and chris!! I will post a picture of that one button youd like to see chris, this is a great piece of trench art and i do agree it sounds better to call them "trophy belts". I love how i can learn so much with jus a little kind input, really appreciate it guys!! :)
Ohh and bhock tht is a Bobby Orr signed autograph, the picture is the cover for the Bruins officsl yearbook from 1975-1976, i also have the yearbook, it will be posted someday. Sorry for taking awhile to respond also, very busy today lol
Thanks for the love scott, offical, blunder and chris for the love!!
As chris said "hate belts" is a very old term (may very well date to the WW1 era) and alludes to the enemy items often seen on the belts.
I will check and see if I can find an era reference.
scott
Ya thats what ive known these belts as, btw i posted that close up
I couldn't find an era reference to "hate belt", but I did find another term of "grave diggers belt"!
Again, not to imply that ALL were acquired that way, but I suspect that some were.
scott
Interestingly, I found a militaria site where some WW1 collectors speculated that these weren't made during the war, but were entirely done post war to sell surplus items.
Part of the argument was that they hadn't seen any period photos of these being worn. I have several primary source references to soldiers creating these and of course I have posted an era shot of two being worn by US soldiers.
scott
Aha thats interesting how theres more than one way to identify these belts, and ya that post you have proves they had these belts in the fields, very kool! :)
no prob poop, thanks for the interesting info.!!!
Thanks mikko majestic and petey!!
Thanks again for the love pops!!!
Thanks for the love kerry and tom!!!