67 - Canteen, reservist's flask probably Infantry Regiment Freiherr von Sparr No. 16 Cologne, circa 1896

Canteen, reservist's flask probably Infantry Regiment Freiherr von Sparr No. 16 Cologne, circa 1896 Metal, glass and leather, canteen, also reservist's flask, probably of the Infantry Regiment Freiherr von Sparr No. 16 in Cologne, round red metal casing with green central field in the shape of a shoulder strap, on it company button “11”, inscription “Comp.” and “Reservist.”, bearer's name “Tappert” in Fraktur script and applied numerals “16”, two applied metal stars at the sides, in Fraktur script “Parole” and “Heimat”, on the left handwritten “Inf. Reg. 3 West” and “96”, on the right “Fr. v. Sp. Köln” and “98”, screw cup with a fully modelled eagle with spread wings as closure, glass bottle with threaded neck inside the casing, reverse with polychrome decoration, two flanking soldiers and heart-shaped glass window with picture, below a reservist's verse in Fraktur script, leather strap as carrying strap. Condition commensurate with age with paint losses, small hole in the eagle, glass chipped. 22x14x3.5 cm (HxWxD) Reservist's flasks belong to the reservist souvenirs of the German Empire: soldiers acquired them at the end of their active service as a keepsake, the form follows the military canteen, the purpose was purely decorative. Infantry Regiment No. 16 was founded in 1813 as the 4th Reserve Regiment and named by Wilhelm II in 1889 after the Electoral Brandenburg field marshal Otto Christoph von Sparr. The regiment traced its nickname “Hacketäuer” back to the Battle of Großbeeren in 1813, in which the soldiers fought in the rain with their rifle butts, shouting “Hacke tau”. In Köln-Mülheim the Hacketäuer barracks were built from 1894 to 1897 for two battalions of the regiment, which was demobilised in 1918. In 1893 the army bill passed by the Reichstag reduced the term of service in the foot troops from three to two years.