Patriotic WW1 German Mandolin

[NickR]

This mandolin, one assumes was made in 1916 at a time when Germany was feeling somewhat triumphant as to the progress of the war. A nice Iron Cross decoration has been awarded to this mandolin.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Interesting...temCondition=4

[AndyV]

This mandolin, one assumes was made in 1916 at a time when Germany was feeling somewhat triumphant as to the progress of the war. A nice Iron Cross decoration has been awarded to this mandolin.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Interesting...temCondition=4

It seems odd to in 1916 inlay just 14,15,16 with the war ongoing. No though to the future? Could certainly be.
I wonder if those were the years the owner was in the military, perhaps injured in '16 and could no longer serve?

[NickR]

I would assume it was one of a run- how many I could not speculate. Possibly, it was presented to a soldier who won an Iron Cross and was injured out of service as you suggest.

[MikeEdgerton]

I think I've figured out how to get rid of some old instruments I have here. We actually had a Martin a few years ago come to the Cafe from the UK that was decorated with symbols from WWII, I guess this is possible but I'm not real sure I'd pay a premium for it. YMMV.

[NickR]

I posted up a Martin that was in the UK that had USAAF insignia on it and the symbol of a gunnery range in Texas or Arizona- I think it depicted a cartoon mouse with a heavy calibre machine gun- as used on a B-17 bomber. It must have been taken to the UK by an air gunner and remained in England. I suppose you have to wonder if he was a victim of the conflict and some of his effects were passed around or sold off- although he might have given it away. In retrospect I wish I had bid on it but you can't buy them all!

I kept that one photo- it is a fox or coyote with the machine gun.

[William Smith]

Sorry to be a party pooper but that mando with the greman insignia should be burned! Many ameriacans died in this of the first conflict and whats next a swastica or gustopo mandolin for the mental world takeover! Erase if you want but this should be everyones feelings!

[Bill McCall]

Sorry to be a party pooper but that mando with the greman insignia should be burned! .......

I must be older, I feel that way about the English

[MikeEdgerton]

I posted up a Martin that was in the UK that had USAAF insignia on it and the symbol of a gunnery range in Texas or Arizona- I think it depicted a cartoon mouse with a heavy calibre machine gun- as used on a B-17 bomber. It must have been taken to the UK by an air gunner and remained in England. I suppose you have to wonder if he was a victim of the conflict and some of his effects were passed around or sold off- although he might have given it away. In retrospect I wish I had bid on it but you can't buy them all!

I kept that one photo- it is a fox or coyote with the machine gun.

I've got pictures of the mandolin apart with the broken neck before it was repaired. It was up a while back.

[brunello97]

At the risk of having Mike (understandably) smacking me down, it's worth recalling that Ditson came out with it's "Hegemony" line of mandolins just a decade or so before WW1: Victory, Conqueror, and Empire, likely celebrating this country's "colonization" of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and not-too-briefly Cuba after the Spanish-American War.

Not really the gold star in our nation's history.

I'm nor meaning to open up a debate here, just to point out that mandolins (strangely) have a legacy of being used as a political statement, however questionably.

Mick

I wonder what a Vietnamese mandolin player might make of the big eagle pickguards from this period?

[MikeEdgerton]

I have no problem with people building commemorative instruments, I question this one as to when and if only because I'm naturally skeptical of things like this. I lived in a very old house in Oregon in my younger days with a big old glass window in the door that was etched with a battleship. There are some things I can explain and others I can't.

This thread shows I can change my mind on things like this though. Apparently the Vietnamese had a problem with the mandolin in that thread as well.

[NickR]

We cannot change our history but we can use the lessons of the past to avoid the same mistakes, now and in the future. My family was directly changed by the two world wars, and my own existence was predicated by those events awful as they were.

[Jim Bevan]

I own this Vietnamese-made "electric mandola".

[MikeEdgerton]

The Yuma Army Air Field was an advanced training ground for army pilots during World War II.The air field was first created in the 1920s as a simple open field with a windsock for use by airplanes. In 1942 the Army was given the use of the land for a flight training school and the first cadets arrived in January,1943. In the first year alone, the Yuma Field saw a dozen graduating classes. The Yuma Field offered advanced training in AT-6, T-17, and B-17 models. It was noted as being one of the busiest air fields in the United States. In 1946, after the war had ended, the Army declared the field to be surplus to their needs and returned the field to civilian control. The field would later become an U.S. Air Force base,a U.S. Marine station, and an international airport.

http://www.arizonahistoricalsociety....Collection.pdf

The emblem was referred to as "The Fighting Fox" so I assume it's a fox.

[NickR]

I have a 1942 date stamped Harmony Cremona IV. I bought it on eBay from a furniture dealer in the county of Suffolk. She said she bought a large wardrobe and there was a locked drawer in the base and when she got it open she found the guitar in its chipboard case. The case has a very old address label of a woman in Woodbridge, Suffolk inside. Suffolk hosted 19 US airbases in WW2- there was one in Woodbridge- a huge crash landing field for damaged aircraft and it is still there- although the US Air Force vacated it a few years ago. I have no doubt this guitar was once owned by a US airman and I have another late 40s S S Stewart Kay jumbo that also came from Suffolk and again that would be something brought to the UK by an airman. My aunt when she came over to see us went to one of these airbases- her husband was a sergeant in the US army and she bought us a fridge as she thought we were peasants without one- this being in 1958. It had a transformer as it was US voltage and we had it for years. I regret not taking it on when my parents got a fridge/freezer as it was so emblematic of the 1950s- a wonderful iconic kitchen appliance built like a battleship. We should have sold it to a film props company but it was given away. People in Liverpool had American fridges- those that worked on the transatlantic ocean liners brought them home from New York and it was probably also true in Southampton. The reason the Beatles and Liverpool groups had all those American records was down to this same freelance trade.

[Jeff Mando]

I must be older, I feel that way about the English

I still blame the Beatles and the so-called British Invasion for taking the focus off of (American) Rockabilly.......

Which, in effect, led to Garage, which was kinda better, so......

[NickR]

Remind me, how many Carl Perkins songs did the Beatles record?

[Jeff Mando]

Remind me, how many Carl Perkins songs did the Beatles record?

Five, I think. FWIW, I got to chat with Carl for about an hour when he was on a book tour and I mentioned I still had my "Carl Perkins Fan Club" membership card.......he was quick to reply that four other fellows had that same card, I might have heard of them........The Beatles!

Sure, Beatles were fans of good music! They also, covered Charlie Feathers, "I forgot to remember to forget" on the BBC sessions.....unfornately he was dead by the time the album came out, so he missed his (probable) biggest payday....

Beatles covered Chuck Berry, too, like everybody else.....

[NickR]

Yes, the Beatles put Carl back on the map- which he thoroughly deserved. However, by the early 60s and before the Beatles arrived on the scene, the only rockabilly style music scoring in the USA was the guitar of James Burton on those various Rick Nelson hits. Although Buddy Holly, Cliff Gallup, Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore were huge influences on aspiring British guitarists in the late 50s and early 60s, the biggest influences were James Burton and Duane Eddy.

[Jim Bevan]

I thought that Bill was making a joke about being born in the 1760's...

[Jeff Mando]

I thought that Bill was making a joke about being born in the 1760's...

Good one! I totally missed it........

[allenhopkins]

Hey, Will, we can always seek out one of these.

[AndyV]

I must be older, I feel that way about the English

Well about six times as many British solders were killed, and ten times as many German.
Ugly from every angle.

Anyone notice this mando was built before the US entered the war?

[Bill McCall]

Well about six times as many British solders were killed, and ten times as many German.
Ugly from every angle.......

See post #19. The American Revolutionary War.

[Simon DS]

Here’s the original poster’s photo (ebay isn’t permanent, whereas MandolinCafe will live forever!).
If it was a 2000 year old Roman musical instrument with insignia from the Legions that massacred the Germanic tribes then I might feel a bit queasy about it too.

[Dave Greenspoon]

The idea of commemorative instruments is important, even if it makes us uncomfortable. IIRC, the article about violins formerly owned by Jews killed during WW2 has made the rounds on the Cafe. FWIW, the bulk of Gibson Army-Navy mandolins were made after the end of WW1. The idea of a patriotic soldier of the Central Powers playing mandolin at the height of its popularity does not give me grief. Were it to be elevated to some iconic level by some crazy group wreaking violence, it would be a different story. Having been born and raised in the American South, I shudder when I see Confederate imagery on instruments or anywhere else. Yet as a young sailor, my cruise jacket featured a patch that said "rebel" under a CSA battle flag. My point is that both awareness and norms evolve over time. Even so, perhaps even especially so, critical appreciation of context matters especially if we feel moved to criticize.