A quest of sorts.
Hello, so I figured I would share a little bit about myself and my journey. Because, why not? Everyone enjoys a little history.
Firstly, I was a collector. I started when I was 13 years old. Since then I have been collecting militaria for nearly 30 years. Over the years I got to handle many cool and unusual antique pieces of militaria. By 2015, I specialized in German militaria of the Great War.
So I started reenacting World War 2 in 2009, without reenacting experience at all. I made many mistakes during that stent that I regret to this day. I am , and got out of it by 2015. I nearly completely left the hobby altogether, but my reenacting dad Randall convinced me to give it a second chance, in this case the Great War - a conflict I was passionate about.
Thus I got into the Great War wanting to do 5. Garde, and luckily for me I learned many lessons with the old impression. I took it to heart, and literally had to fight my way up the totem pole. I was told many times to 'just give up' from plenty of people, but I never gave up. Finally, a unit in the GWA was kind enough to give myself and the 5. Garde a chance to prove ourselves at Newville, PA. After some time, we ended up becoming a officially sanctioned member unit by majority vote.
Over the years, since joining the Great War Reenactment community, I noticed that there were things that needed to be made. Either because supplies were limited, people that made replicas were retiring, recycling originals, or replicas were just plain sloppy. Plus the demands on some things were far greater than the supply. More so, my unit of 5. Garde has been growing rapidly for a number of years due to fellowship, kindness, and accuracy to details. But there were still things from the old school of thought that needed to be addressed due to the supply and demand. So, I decided to throw my Schirmmütze into the ring for replica personal items and field gear.
Initially, I started quietly because I didn't want to have people nosing into my business. I have seen too many times people saying what they were planning on doing, just for people to either steal your ideas or to belittle your efforts. So I kept it to myself, and when I was ready, I started sharing my works with the community.
What are my long term goals? Simple. Help build the community and do my part to do my part in the community. I feel not everyone will appreciate my efforts, but that is fine. No one is perfect. I just want to help and build the community. Nothing more. Thus, I shall keep plugging away to build something so people may come.
The Story of Kaufmann & Co. (A fictional story for my brand):
So I have had people ask me about the Kaufmann & Co markings on my replica items. The reason I made it, other than to make an item look a little more authentic to a glance. As a author I think it is fun to have a back story for something like that. So without further ab-due, the LARP story:
The Kaufmann family were merchants in Spandau and Berlin, and was well respected by a number of small scale and sub-contract production businesses. However in 1914 when war were declared Heinz O. Kaufmann, the father of Hans Kaufmann, learned the German government was closing businesses down that wouldn't support the war effort or unable to meet quotas. So with his influence, he formed a coalition of small businesses and workshops in Spandau to assist in production for war material for the effort under the Kaufmann & Co banner. After 1919, the coalition dissolved, each member having a different story moving forward.
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1907 - 1913 dated items are Kaufmann & Co 'Sub-contracted' items to fulfill larger quotas.
1914-1919 dated items are the Kaufmann & Co coalition produced items, and some stamps may vary.
