Lot 146
WWI US 347th Field Artillery Soldier's Souvenir Insignia Belt with Several Scarce German Cockades
Mise à prix: $50
WWI US 347th Field Artillery Soldier's Souvenir Insignia Belt with Several Scarce German Cockades
Often described as a 'hate belt' or 'trophy belt', these were common souvenirs among the doughboys of WWI: a mixture of insignia from friend and foe alike, mounted on a German belt. In this case, it is a brown leather Imperial German belt with a nice feldgrau Prussian buckle, but interestingly the internal buckle billet has been relocated to the exterior of the belt. Belt is mounted by 25 insignias, mostly German uniform buttons and NCO rank collar buttons, with the better pieces being a Baden cockade, a scarce Saxe-Weimar cockade, and a similarly desirable Hamburg & Lübeck (Hanseatic) cockade. The belt also has a US "347 / Artillery / B" numbered collar disc, and is inscribed behind the buckle billet with the service number and unit of the doughboy to whom this belonged: Jean Domeco of Oakland, California, who served as a Cook in Battery B, 347th Field Artillery.
$100 - $200