This field covers, in the main, headdress badges of many different parts of the world, but also includes cross-belt plates, etc. An interesting example is the parallel existence of regimental badges for the British and Austrian armies, fighting on opposing sides in WW1, something unique to these two countries. Good reference books include: Kipling & King's two volumes on headdress badges of the British Army; John Gaylor's book on cap badges of the British Army; Ashok Nath's book, Izzat: Historical Records and Iconography of Indian Cavalry Regiments 1750-2007 (published 2009 by the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research United Service Institution of India), a superb rendering of this extremely complex subject, beautifully illustrated. Ashok Nath's website is at: http://sites.google.com/site/anath53/home

This commemorates the moment when Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to occupy the Saarland, hitherto under French control. The French army offered no resistance and, to compound matters, meekly packed up and left, offering the Reich its first bloodless victory!

This commemorates the death of the emperor on 21 November 1916. He had reigned from 1848 - longer than Queen Victoria! An impressive individual, much loved by his people, he led a relatively spartan life which was full of tragedy, what with the suicide of his son, the assassination of his wife and the death by firing squad of his brother.

This cap badge, in what appears to be gilding metal, commemorates a cavalry unit, possibly of mixed German and Austrian composition, commanded by General Herberstein. The unit almost certainly served on the Romanian front with General von Mackensen, a Prussian general, in his Armeegruppe, which existed from 18/8/1915-1/1/1916.

The Landwehr were the first line of the reserve, the second line being the Landsturm. The concept of the Landwehr cockade dates back to the Napoleonic Wars and was always in the form of a Maltese cross. These cockades would have been worn on the front of the cap, under the national cockade in black, white and red.

This die-struck gilding metal badge is obviously intended to be worn on a cap, or possibly a lapel, because of its small size (3.5cm high). I am working in the dark, but I am guessing it is for a postman because of the motif of the hunting horns with the electrical arrows (telegraph).

This is a modern copy of the classic eagle in rayon produced by BeVo of Wuppertal in 'sand' colour for the Mediterranean theatre. It would have been worn on a sand-coloured schiffchen or possibly on the Afrika Korps kepi. Perhaps one of the rarest of the SS cap eagles, for obvious reasons mostly found on sliced up pieces of roll like this.

This is a modern copy of the classic eagle in rayon produced by BeVo of Wuppertal in 'sand' colour for the Mediterranean theatre. It would have been worn on a sand-coloured tunic. Perhaps one of the rarest of the SS sleeve eagles, for obvious reasons mostly found on sliced up pieces of roll like this.

This shows quite a nice head-and-shoulders portrait photo of Baden-Powell wearing the hat popularised later by the Boy Scout movement, which he founded. His original glory came from the defence of Mafeking. There were great celebrations throughout the Empire when Mafeking was relieved and this is an example of what this euphoria produced.

This commemorates the winter and spring campaign in the Carpathian mountains in 1915, when Austria battled manfully against Russian assaults, initially with very little German support. Austrian losses by this point reached nearly two million men in dead, wounded and taken prisoner.

This enamelled officer's badge would have been worn by personnel serving at the Grimmenstein Sanatorium in 1917. It is a magnificent example of what perhaps is the earliest display of Art Deco motif, predating the widespread use of this sort of imagery by some years.