Kiwi Medals

Nice simple pickup last weekend at the local antique fair. This is a souvenir belt put together from a Prussian infantry belt and the tunic buttons from a wide range of Allied and German units. This example has a predominance of Canadian buttons so I am guessing that it was Canadian in origin. The rest are French, Australian, New Zealand, German and one single U.S. General Service button. You see these in all sorts of configurations, some on Allied belts, some with cap badges and other oddments. The legend is that these were put together from souvenirs taken from dead bodies but that sounds overly complex to me and likely nonsense. More likely most of the buttons were swapped at rear area camps between bored soldiers making up a souvenir. The U.S. button suggests a late war job, 1917-19. The Empire buttons make sense as often these units found themselves together in the line. The Canadian Regiments are from different divisions so that’s why I think this is a rear area put together. Still, a great belt, in fine condition and worth it just for the buttons and belt IMHO.

This entry was posted on August 5, 2017 at 2:44 PM and is filed under Belts & Belt Buckles with tags Australia, Canada, France, Germany (Imperial), Hate Belts, New Zealand, Souvenirs, United Kingdom, United States, Western Front, WW1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.