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My collection after (roughly) a year


Ray42
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I thought it would be a neat idea to show my DI collection after 1 year of focusing mainly on that field of collecting, the one year mark was really back in June when I had to renew my ASMIC membership but due to COVID a large portion of my collection had been left at school so this is a little late. I am focusing on WW2 era pins. especially theater made examples.  I am very happy with my collection so far which has 170 examples in it, including three that are units or variations I have never seen before, 9 or 10 that are featured in the "quality DI collection" article of ASMIC's "Best of the Best" issue, and examples of nearly every backing, construction and nation of origin.

 

I hope you enjoy looking because there are some very rare pins in the first picture. All questions and comments are welcome and I can provide close up pictures of any pins that people are interested in. 

pin collection 2.png

pin collection 3.png

pin collection 4.png

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pin_collection_6.png

pin collection1.png

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I know there doesn't always seems to be a lot of interest in DI but if members are interested I will show better views of some of the most interesting examples, such as a Japanese made double pronged pinback DI, which might not appear as interesting at first glance in the display. 

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Old Crow 1986

Ray,

 

1) Nice job getting all these together in just a year (I'm just about to celebrate my 1st anniversary myself)

2) I don't collect DIs but I'm always looking to learn ...

...what is this one?

1505143992_MAAFDI.JPG.bbc23088d7a66d2eb3ba170496638b42.JPG

3) If you have time and are so inclined I'd love to see some close ups of the bullion DIs...don't think I've ever seen those before

 

Thanks for sharing

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1948071609_MAAFpin.png.3d9cdafefcdb255ce5d90532328f22c9.png

Sure the first one is an Italian made Mediterranean Allied Air Force pin, my guess is that due to it's very small size it may have been used on the collars of officers shirts but I cannot say for sure it is just a guess. It would be too small to really be worn on a jacket like a normal DI but since the 2nd Corps ones came as a matched pair I think they are still intended to be DI and not sweetheart pins. There is also a 5th Army miniature pin that I have seen but I do not think it is a coincidence that I have only seen the miniature insignia for units higher then the division level who could have personnel with no authorized DI of their own.

 

Of the bullion DI the KMAG are actually two slightly different designs and I think were worn by two different people because one looks like it had been sewn on and the other has snaps on the back to attach it to a uniform. The CBI may have been designed to go on an overseas cap but I still consider it to be of DI size so. 

KMAG patch.png

CBI patch.png

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BILL THE PATCH

Nice start, I also started collecting Di's also and have a nice assortment. I'm s a little over a years now. A couple of rare ones to. I love your Persian gulf varients.

Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk

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51 minutes ago, Old Crow 1986 said:

Thanks!

 

All great, but that bullion CBI is Fine with a capital F. 

Thanks, I got that one because I loved that it had CBI embroidered on it like that. Personally I think I might like the KMAG patches a little bit more, I think they are rarer and despite being well worn while the CBI is pretty minty they do show some nice craftsmanship, even if it may have been too big of a design for the maker to condense well. 

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36 minutes ago, BILL THE PATCH said:

Nice start, I also started collecting Di's also and have a nice assortment. I'm s a little over a years now. A couple of rare ones to. I love your Persian gulf varients.

Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
 

Thanks, I would love to see your collection. There doesn't seem to be much DI traffic on the forum besides people getting identifications for pins that they have found but I would love to see more discussion on them in the future. 

 

And thanks, I really like those ones also and couldn't believe my luck when I found the hand carved one at an antique store for a good price, it is exactly the type of one of a kind theater made stuff that I wish I found more of. That one I think is carved in silver and gold plated on the front, the other I think was made in Egypt and is silver and painted. The only other major variation that I know of is an enameled one that is similar to the painted one. I posted better pictures of them and discussed them more in this thread and you might want to check it out if you are interested. 

 

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13 hours ago, rlyoun3910 said:

Really nice collection and thanks for sharing.

Thanks you very much. This is getting more attention then I expected so I think I will start highlighting some of the cooler pins. 

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Impressive collection!

 

Looking forward to seeing specifics.

 

And thank you for posting the link to my thread.

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57 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

Impressive collection!

 

Looking forward to seeing specifics.

 

And thank you for posting the link to my thread.

Thanks, more detailed entries will follow soon. And it was a pleasure trying to help with your thread, I really enjoyed seeing your ROB grouping and the theater made 711th railway pin.

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Ill start the specifics off with a pretty interesting Japanese made pin. This is for the 3186th Signal Service Battalion from the occupation era to Korean war and the unique thing about it is that it has a very cool double prong pinback which I have never seen or heard of before on a pin. I think it is a really cool and unique system of attachment which is why the pin is among my favorites. 

3186 Signal.png

3186 Signal2.png

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Next is another signal corps pin that is one of my favorites, this one is for Camp Crowder which was a huge training center for signalmen in Missouri. Due to the simple hook and pin backing and lack of hallmark I think it may have been made by a local jeweler in Missouri but unfortunately without finding one in a vet's possession I do not think it is possible to say with certainty where it was made.  This is the only example I have ever seen (this should be taken with a grain of salt since I have only been collecting these for a little over a year) with neither ASMIC, the forum, or the internet having another example that I could find. I could easily be wrong about it being a newly discovered pin however, there have been articles in ASMIC and on the forum about the identical Camp Crowder patches and neither mentioned that there was a corresponding enamel pin.  I also posted a article on it previously where I showed the pin stating that it was a "New discovery" and no one corrected me, said that they already knew about it, or presented an example of one that they had in their collection so I think it might be safe to say that this is a new discovery. To be fair fewer people read that post in 2 months then have seen this post in the last 24 hr, so hopefully this draws more attention to it and if anyone knows of another of these pins please let me know because I would love to see it!

Camp Crowder high res.png

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Next I will show my pair of 81st Cavalry Recon pins, these are featured in the ASMIC quality collection article and can probably be considered rare pieces. I have learned from tredhed2, who is a great help, that there are three different variants of this pin, two enamel versions made in Germany and one type that was painted in North Africa. I have both of the two German made versions which gives a good opportunity to see the differences between the two versions which are the color of the metal used as well as the color of the red and green enamel. 

81st Cav2.png

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10 minutes ago, tredhed2 said:

Your 81st Cav Rcns were also worn by the 81st Constabulary Sq

That was almost instant, thank you tredhed2, you really are a wealth of information on the subject which I suspect is not a coincidence given the picture you use. Hope you enjoyed what you saw of my collection and have a good day. 

 

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I've never had much interest in DUI's, but seeing your theater made and embroidered examples, changes my hold attitude. Stunning collection, especially in only a years time. Thanks for sharing!

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7 minutes ago, MasonK said:

I've never had much interest in DUI's, but seeing your theater made and embroidered examples, changes my hold attitude. Stunning collection, especially in only a years time. Thanks for sharing!

Hearing that, and the overall interest from everyone has made sharing my collection worth it so thank you. I am glad you enjoy the theater made pins, they are harder to find for sure but are much more rewarding to view then a plain jane American made version, even for the same unit. I do not really have any but there are also some stunning early American made DI made by firms like BB&B in enameled bronze. 

 

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16 minutes ago, Ray42 said:

Hearing that, and the overall interest from everyone has made sharing my collection worth it so thank you. I am glad you enjoy the theater made pins, they are harder to find for sure but are much more rewarding to view then a plain jane American made version, even for the same unit. I do not really have any but there are also some stunning early American made DI made by firms like BB&B in enameled bronze. 

 

 

Agreed on the plain-Jane US made examples, especially those made post-war. They definitely lack the craftsmanship of earlier and theater made examples. 

 

 

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I have time for one more post before I have to get some work done for school, so I think it would be fitting to share what is probably my rarest DI and one that I am most proud to have in my collection: the University Training Command Florence. This DI and identical SSI patch that went with it were used by personnel of College education programs in Italy.  These programs were provided to service members preparing to demobilize and return to the US and designed to give them college level courses in a variety of subjects. This program existed from July to November 1945.  I have only seen two of these pins through ASMIC and according to Massaro in a 1988 trading post article he knew of 3 examples, one of which was pictured in the article, which coupled with the limited period it was used for leads me to believe that it is a very rare DI. What is most interesting is that after comparing some of the unique flaws in the enamel that mine has it is pretty clear to me that it is actually the same pin that Massaro used to own and was pictured in the Oct-Dec. 1988 Trading Post article. Given the DI's pedigree and rarity I consider myself very lucky to have it in my collection. 

UTC Florance pin.png

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22 hours ago, Reforger said:

I see some very nice crests! Great collection!

Thanks!

 

The next interesting pin that I thought would be cool to show is my 300th infantry regiment. This one is interesting because normally when I encounter a plastic DI it is either German made or made by Whitehead and Hoag, a few are Gemsco but this one is something else entirely. It is somewhat crudely made and fragile but appears to be the usual woven cloth insignia for this unit encased in plastic with a safety pin on the back. The 300th was a detached regiment that never went overseas and from what I have seen were a demonstration unit and may have aided in training other units. I vaguely have the recollection that I have seen another like it on this forum but of course now when I want to find it I cannot seem to. Regardless it is an interesting addition of an obscure stateside unit.

300th Inf back.png

300th Inf plastic.png

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Also I wanted to add that all of the Patch type DI are theater made and the only examples that are clutch back are also theater made or are modified examples where the original backing was damaged or lost and clutch back posts were added so it could still be used. 

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Additionally, the majority of my collection is pre-ww2, ww2, or occupation era. However, this next pin is an exception and one of two Vietnam era "Beer cans" that I have in my collection. This pin is for the 313rd Military Intelligence Battalion which is part of the 82nd airborne and deployed with them during Vietnam. This type of pin is known as a "beer can" because they are locally made and very thin, it is often said that they were made from melting down aluminum cans similar to the pot metal pins of Germany after ww2. I generally avoid these types of pins because they are heavily faked, however the circumstances of how I found this one leads me to believe that it is real. 

313rd backing.png

313rd.png

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