Siam/Thailand Exalted Order White Elephant medal

[Texasbadger]

Got this from a WWII vets son who stated his dad told him he got it "Off a Prussian" which is probably an interesting story in itself, Took awhile to find out that its a very early Thailand medal of the "Commander" class, vet had a pin installed on the ribbon loop for his wife as jewelry which has since been removed.  I like the enamel work.  Mid 1930's when Siam changed to Thailand.

[railman44]

Very nice looking. 

[D&b antiques]

As a fellow practitioner of souvenir hunting. of which is thousands of years old. the gruesome details of which deserve a separate thread. my favorite is a North Vietnamese army belt.

With a red star in the middle. collected in A shau Valley. in 1969 south vietnam.
Sem-per- fi.

[Texasbadger]

Knowing that valley very well I can probably guess!

[regularjoe2]

Nice keeper , texasbadger .

Great enamel & history .

My personal fav is an empty speed-loader for an SKS - former owner was planning to share it's contents with me , but didn't quite get the chance - 'collected' somewhere in Laos , back in the old-timey-time .

[KC]

Nice Texasbadger!

My personal favorite is a machete and Nazi helmet that my uncle Mac gave to my older brother when we were kids.  He was an ace pilot and shot down behind enemy lines 3 times - shot down 5 times total.  Just recently the man who owned the farm he was shot down on in France contacted my family and sent a pic of himself with a piece of the plane that didn't burn when my uncle burned it.  (Hid for 2 days before he got out that time!)

This was his 2nd plane!  they got to name and paint their planes!!!!  There are lots of good articles and books about his ventures with the Hell Hawks!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://skywalking1.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/photo-no-4-1-mchworter-and-crew-chief.jpg&imgrefurl=http://skywalking1.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/two-departed-hell-hawks/&usg=__-yG68n6PattSTXvoqiCW-00J1Jw=&h=1799&w=2587&sz=463&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=P0Vlpo9r8dwlVM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhell%2Bhawks%2Bmcwhorter%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

[talesofthesevenseas]

Wow, very interesting KC.

I think I might have mentioned this on a different thread already. My dad had a pair of binoculars that we would take to the 49er games. They were WWII German binoculars that he took off of an officer. Dad was a paratrooper with the 507th.

[regularjoe2]

My dad was with Pattons' troops in Europe , armored infantry .

He brought back a few things , but 'one' that I'll always remember was a few convex antique French sliver coins , with brass loops soldered on their backs .
They were buttons my dad had cut off of a dead german infantrymans' uniform .

He took them to his C.O. - he said it was at that moment , when he realized the Nazis were loosing the war .
His C.O. thought the same thing .