Wednesday, 30 November 2016

...a mystery float

Here is a photograph dating from the early years of the twentieth century. Who were these people? Why had they decorated a float? Were they participating in a parade? There are no real clues in the photograph, except that they had paused on the road near a church or chapel, and that all were dressed in their best, other than the bearded gentleman holding the horse.

Sunday, 27 November 2016

...German minefield Flag

This wartime souvenir was a marker for German minefields during the Second World War.

It is stamped RLM for Reich Air Ministry, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, which is a slight puzzle, though the person who acquired it did visit the V2 rocket launch site at Cuxhaven, Germany, in 1945 and may have collected it there.

The Germans used a variety of signs to mark minefields, usually with a skull and crossed bones, including a triangular cloth version of this sign.