S-075 One-of-a-Kind Shooting Club Annual Pair
Champion Neck Award
This unique item is absolutely one-of-a-kind. A great many German
communities had shooting clubs (many still do), and an important event on the
calendar of this partly social association, was an annual “pairs” shooting
championship competition (man and woman – not necessarily wedded), with the
winning pair each year adding a new decoration to the chain, engraved with the
winning pair’s names - and when these would fit, the official titles as well,
like “Schützenkönig (“shooting King” – i.e. Championship Shot). It is
uncertain whether the Verein (club) itself sponsored the new decorations, or
whether the royal champions had to foot the bill out of their own funds; in any
case, the pieces were usually hand crafted out of tin, though some used finely
cast, highly detailed parts as well. In fact, there’s an amazing variety in
the degree of intricacy employed on the various decorations – and those from
one town will never be exactly the same as any other. Each decoration on the
chain, however, lends to the complete impression. This particular club was
started in 1925, and continued at least through the 1938 / 39 year, as this is
the date of the last addition, which commemorated the win of the (married or
sibling) pair Willi and Lene Paasen, whose decoration is at the bottom rear on
the backside and proclaims the proud slogan “Das schönste Wappen auf der Welt
– der blanken Pfug auf freiem Feld” ("the most beautiful weapon in the
world: the shining plow on a free field"). There are a total of 15
different (each unique) medallions. Each of these has an engraved presentation.
Most of these are made of 800 silver and are so marked. With tradition
being rich in these clubs, the saying uses the archaic word “Wappen” –
which, however, remained unchanged in Dutch (in Old English, the word was
“weapon” - but pronounced “waya-pon”) and in German it became
Waffen (pronounced “Vaffen”). This slogan was something the RAD would have
nodded in agreement with! Another interesting decoration is the second lowest on
the front; this was the year the Nazis came to power, so the engraved
inscription fittingly notes: Im Jahre der nationalen Erhebung, Schützenpaar
Smitmans Heinrich, Smitmans Franziska geb. v.d. Lov ("in the
year of the national uplifting, championship shooting pair S.Heinrich and
S.Franziska nee von der Lov"). This particular neck chain was probably
retired after the war due to the emblems on it, and some of the club members may
also have been lost in the war. A few tips are slightly bent on one or two of
the “starburst” type decorations, but overall this amazing, pieced-together
shooting champion prize chain is positively incredible – definitely
one-of-a-kind.
$2,700.00
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Item S-075
