95 - Three belt buckles: fire brigade “Gott zur Ehr”, Prussia “Gott mit uns” and Soviet Union with star

Three belt buckles: fire brigade “Gott zur Ehr”, Prussia “Gott mit uns” and Soviet Union with star Metal. Three belt buckles: 1) Fire brigade, silver-coloured box buckle with applied bronze-coloured round emblem, the legend “GOTT ZUR EHR · DEM NÄCHSTEN ZUR WEHR” within a beaded circle around a fireman's helmet above crossed hook ladder and axe, below it a coiled hose. 2) Prussia, other ranks' belt buckle, brass-coloured with applied silver-coloured plate: Prussian royal crown with the legend “GOTT MIT UNS” within a laurel wreath, the plate held at the back with two solder points. 3) Soviet Union, belt buckle, brass-coloured, stamped in one piece with five-pointed star on a rayed ground, within it hammer and sickle. On the back of 1) and 2) belt hook and strap loop, on 3) broad tab and wire loop. Condition commensurate with age, the surfaces scratched, rubbed and stained. The motto on the fire brigade buckle has been the motto of the fire brigades in the German-speaking countries since the 19th c. and also appears on helmets, flags and decorations. The Prussian other ranks' buckle with royal crown and the motto “Gott mit uns” was introduced from 1847 and worn until 1918. The five-pointed star with hammer and sickle on a rayed ground is the emblem of the armed forces of the Soviet Union, which bore the name Soviet Army from 1946. Belt buckles form a collecting field of their own, in which execution, metal and the fittings on the back determine attribution and dating.