WW1 Liberty Loan patches- EXACTLY what were they?

[jgawne]

I can not seem to find a good description of exactly what the heck these were really made for. Were they sold to raise money for the loan? were the given away as token of thanks for giving? were they just made up and sold in stores and someone gave them the liberty loan name?

 

Now I know the LAST WW1 loan was actually not a liberty loan, but the "VICTORY loan" to help pay off the ret of the bills, as the war had ended. And in theory German helmets were somehow "sold" to help riase money for it. So as the insignia did not really come about until after nov 11th, should they not be techniclly called "Victory Loan" patches?

[mortaydc60]

I can not seem to find a good description of exactly what the heck these were really made for. Were they sold to raise money for the loan? were the given away as token of thanks for giving? were they just made up and sold in stores and someone gave them the liberty loan name?

 

Now I know the LAST WW1 loan was actually not a liberty loan, but the "VICTORY loan" to help pay off the ret of the bills, as the war had ended. And in theory German helmets were somehow "sold" to help riase money for it. So as the insignia did not really come about until after nov 11th, should they not be techniclly called "Victory Loan" patches?

 

 

Hi

 

Yes they were sold to raise money;but more to the point they are real and very collectible. they are found on uniforms from the period;most placed on return from Europe. The whole set has just about every unit that existed and is a great representation of the units that existed. More important is that when you find one you can just about bet it is real they have not been faked very often or well. Hope this helps. By the way ASMIC has done numerous articles on this subject and even has a color fold out of the set. Mort

[jgawne]

No doubt they are real- I just want to know exactly how people got them- I mean did you have to donate $1? $10? would $25 get youa Hun Helmet?

 

I have the last million years of the TP on my shelves and Can't recall an article about that that (not that my sieve of a brain would remember)

[Teamski]

Actually, Liberty Loan patches were made to be displayed on boards at stores and banks to sell war bonds and raise funds for the war, thus the Liberty Loan monicker. After the war, these displays were given away and found their way into collections. Some Liberty Loan patches also found their way to the units themselves and were indeed worn on a small scale. I don't believe that they were actually sold to raise money.

 

-Ski

[cwnorma]

Actually, Liberty Loan patches were made to be displayed on boards at stores and banks to sell war bonds and raise funds for the war, thus the Liberty Loan monicker. After the war, these displays were given away and found their way into collections. Some Liberty Loan patches also found their way to the units themselves and were indeed worn on a small scale. I don't believe that they were actually sold to raise money.

 

-Ski

 

Ski,

 

That is a very interesting, and definitive answer. I have never read this anywhere. What is the source?

 

Cheers!

 

Chris

[vintageproductions]

One of the author's of the best article on these, from ASMIC is a member here. I am sure he will posts the info as soon as he sees it.

[jgawne]

OK, see- this is what I was looking for-I know someone had to know- And it makes sense if they were on display then there were probably extras that were sold off afterwards.

 

 

but in conjunction with the 5th "victory" Liberty Loan there was some program whereby people could get a German helmet-

 

The whole Liberty Loan thing is pretty interesting if you can stand economics. The 3rd loan they had a program where people could borrow money from banks at the same interest as the loan would pay off for- which just seems so odd to me. By the 4th loan they had to give special badges to people to wear instead of just a small buttons you see.

[Teamski]

I read the article on the Liberty Loan patches in the Trading Post years ago and I remembered the purpose of the patches. Unfortunately, I don't keep the issues....

 

-Ski

[tredhed2]

The original article appeared in the Jul-Sept 92 TP. It had a 4 page color section plus the back cover had a typical LL board, also in full color.

 

"One of the promotions used by the Liberty Loan Committee was tp sell or give in response to a donation, shoulder patches of the AEF. These shoulder patches are commonly referred to as "Liberty Loans". Copyright 1992 and used w/ permission. Back issues are still avail.

 

The article also names the manufacturers, discusses salesmen's sample books, and goes into greater detail. There is no info about "hun helmets".

[jgawne]

The original article appeared in the Jul-Sept 92 TP. It had a 4 page color section plus the back cover had a typical LL board, also in full color.

 

 

Many Thanks-

I also found some (boring) period histories of the loans I am weeding through.

[BEAST]

Have you seen Glenn Hyatt's website? He discusses the Liberty Loan patches there. http://glennhyatt.com/uniftalk/unipat3.htm

[jgawne]

I finally got my hands on what seems the one of the best period records of the liberty loans. It lists the "bonuses one oculd get- and they DO NOT INCLUDE PATCHES!

 

Essentially they were limited to the little pins to show you had done your part. In the Vth loan if you were one of the top salesman of loans you could get a German helmet (from a pile of them brought back as a part of a publicity campaign), the top 30 cities were allowed to name a ship after them, and that's really more or less it. The Vth loan (as were the others oversuscribed and they actually had to return money collected)

 

From what I have seen so far, there is no period documentation to indicate the patches were related to the loans at all, except as window displays to help increase interest in the loan. In the TP article the display board was said to be property of , and now I will get this wrong, some company called the "Army division insignia company" or some such generic name.

 

My hypothesis was with the war over, and troops starting to wear patches- and looking for better quaility ones- this company formed to make high quality ones for sale to the Vets- (and of course anyone that wanted them). To help promote their brand (and let's face it- they look a lot better than some hand-sewn wool thing) they made up boards to be loaned to help publicity for the Vth Victory loan hoping men would see them and want to buy their cooler looking patches.

 

I suspect lots of the display boards were just kept as souviniers, the whole thing was done far too early for a lot of the troops to have come home and seen them, and quite possibly the company decided they could not sell enough. Are there any ads for these woven patches in period magazines or newspapers?

 

So, I lay down the challenege for someone to prove me wrong using period documentation.

[Patriot]

I have also seen period letters from both WWI & WWII SOLDIERS who had also participated in the War Bond/Liberty Loan drive. I would surmise that some of these WWI soldiers came into possession of these patches through their own contributions.

 

Patriot

[88thcollector]

They did come, as mentioned before, in pattern books. Manion's had one long ago and a great one turned up here at an auction about fifteen years ago. I thought I would get it for nothing but there was phone bidders on it. I wish I had recorded the info in the book.

[chcole1]

Here's my first Liberty Loan patch I won recently. Are these considered rare? I can't say I see them very often but not on the top of my list to look for. This one was hiding in a lot of Boy Scout items.

 

It was mentioned in an earlier part of this thread that on Glenn Hyatt's site he discusses these patches and their history but the link no longer works. Does anyone know if he has a new site?

 

Chris

[mortaydc60]

Here's my first Liberty Loan patch I won recently. Are these considered rare? I can't say I see them very often but not on the top of my list to look for. This one was hiding in a lot of Boy Scout items.

 

It was mentioned in an earlier part of this thread that on Glenn Hyatt's site he discusses these patches and their history but the link no longer works. Does anyone know if he has a new site?

 

Chris

 

 

Chris,if you are going to collect WW1 patches I would say the Liberty Loan patches are a good way to go since you would have no doubt as to being authentic. They are reasonable for the common ones plus it is a pretty well defined collection in itself. I'm still looking for some to complete my set,not easy. Best of luck. Mort

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Here's my first Liberty Loan patch I won recently. Are these considered rare? I can't say I see them very often but not on the top of my list to look for. This one was hiding in a lot of Boy Scout items.

 

It was mentioned in an earlier part of this thread that on Glenn Hyatt's site he discusses these patches and their history but the link no longer works. Does anyone know if he has a new site?

 

Chris

 

 

Chis with the help of the Internet WayBack Machine there is this Link to the page that was posted earlier. Robert

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20080405154620/...alk/unipat3.htm

[chcole1]

Robert

 

Thank for the link as well as the info on recovering achived pages. I didn't know you could do that. Very cool.

 

Chris

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Robert

 

Thank for the link as well as the info on recovering achived pages. I didn't know you could do that. Very cool.

 

Chris

 

You are most welcome Chris. It works about 90% of time for me. Some of the photos on a page may not still show up but usually the information is still there. I have found quite a few sites I though were gone forever by using it :thumbsup: . Robert

 

Internet Archive Wayback Machine

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

[Championhilz]

After World War I ended, there was a display of captured German war equipment set up in New York City to help raise money for the 5th war loan - known as "Victory Way," the exhibition was located just above Grand Central Station on Park Avenue. Each end of Victory Way had a pyramid made up of 12,000 German helmets. One of the newspaper articles that I found about Victory Way said that the helmets were going to be given away to large contributors to the 5th War Loan.

 

Here is a picture of Victory Way with one of the pyramids:

 

[Championhilz]

Here's a close-up of the helmet pyramid:

 

[patches]

Here's a close-up of the helmet pyramid:

 

 

HOLY YOU KNOW WHAT ! Unbelievable, Fantastic ! This photo makes me what go off my rocker every time I look at, I never seen this photo before, It unbelievable. Being from NYC I also know where this photo was taken. this is Park Avenue looking towards E 42 Street, this street on the south side of E 42 St is now called Park Avenue south it begins here at E 42 and contiues down to Union Square, during the victory parades of WWI and WWII this thoughfare was where the troops would head back downtown after marching up 5th Avenue to Manhattan's Grand Army Plaza ( there's a Bigger, more well known one in Prospect Park, Brooklyn ) at the corner of 5th avenue and the intersection of E and W 59 Streets, also the Plaza hotel is located there. Where are these Picklehauben now question ? no doubt most are thinking .

[chcole1]

I'm in NYC as well. Going to have to head out of Grand Central tomorrow on my way to work and imagine what it was like to have all those helmets lined up. A truly amazing sight it must have been.

 

Chris

[patches]

I'm in NYC as well. Going to have to head out of Grand Central tomorrow on my way to work and imagine what it was like to have all those helmets lined up. A truly amazing sight it must have been.

 

Chris

 

Another New Yorker !