World War I era U.S. Cavalry officer’s tunic collar insignia. Worn in pairs, these collar insignia represent the Machine Gun Squadron of the cavalry. From the top: Bronze 5th Cavalry, Machine Gun Squadron, bronze 5th Cavalry, Machine Gun Squadron Adjutant officer, bronze 5th Cavalry, Machine Gun Squadron Quartermaster officer and bronze 5th Cavalry, Machine Gun Squadron Commissary officer. The next four, in the same order, are gold gilt for dress mess uniform.
Shanghai Volunteer Corps, machine gun company drink coaster from the officer’s mess. 4 inches in diameter, the outer rim is silver plate while the center is made of porcelain and shows the SVC star above crossed Vickers and the design consisting of flags of the Shanghai International Settlement of the 1930s. All Shanghai Volunteer Corps items are extremely rare as the Japanese destroyed everything pertaining to them when they captured Shanghai in 1937. Shanghai remained occupied until 1945.
German reservist’s regimental glass flask with aluminum cover, screw cap and cup. Marked, ‘Parole Heimat!’ (Password Homeland!) to top and ‘Zur Erinnerung an Meine Dienstzeit’ (In Remembrance of My Time in Service). To the center, is a metal plate image with a banner to the top ‘Reserve Hat Ruh’ (The Reserve Rest) over the German machine gun marksmanship badge of a German Maxim MG08 on sled mount, within an oval machine gun belt. Under the machine gun is a shoulder board image with ‘58’ (58th infantry regiment) over ‘Hereford,’ where the unit was based. The rear has a ‘barometer’ viewing window to see the level of liquid in the flask with marks to denote ‘wind conditions’ from ‘still’ to ‘stormy.’
