N004587 IMPERIAL GERMAN BANDSMAN SWALLOW'S NESTS. (Schwalbennester)

BACKGROUND: Germany has a long history of producing some of the best master musicians in the world including the renown composers Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Hitler’s personal favorite Richard Wagner. Military bands date back to the middle ages and were originally utilized for acoustic signaling long before eventually evolving into a form of entertainment. The German military recognized the beneficially morale effect of music and along with larger units and Headquarters bands, German infantry battalions, excluding Jäger, (Light Infantry), and Gebirgsjäger, (Mountain Troop), battalions, each had a fife and drum band that usually consisted of six buglers and drummers and a Drum Major and a wide variety of acceptable music was readily available to these musicians. Along with their instruments the musicians wore the distinctive, identifying, "swallow’s nest", insignia when performing with the band. The "swallow’s nest" insignia was utilized from at least the 1800's if not earlier and was carried over into the Imperial, the Weimar Reichswehr, (National Defence Force, Circa 1919-1933), and the Third Reich eras with minor variations. The Reichswehr era "swallow’s nests" consisted of seven, or eight, wide vertical stripes on a colored background field and all had a fringe applied to bottom edge until regulations of 1923 abolished the fringe for drummers and fifers but maintained the fringe for Drum Majors. Regulations of September 1935 altered the seven/eight, wide vertical stripes on the "swallow’s nests" to nine, narrower, stripes.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Early, roughly, 24cm wide and 10cm tall to the center is half-moon shaped, "swallow’s nests" consisting of a red wool waffenfarbe base with eight, alternating, evenly spaced, gilt, waffle patterned, tress stripes and an additional, slightly curved, horizontal, waffle patterned, tress stripe to the bottom edge. The bright wool base shows through as a narrow, vertical stripe between each of the tress stripes. 85mm long gold wire fringe to the bottom o each. The reverse has a protective, fabric quilted backing handstitched in place. The reverse of the "swallow’s nests" have five, evenly spaced, attachment hooks.

GRADE ****1/4                             PRICE $179.00

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