1943 silver Tunis ring. A Keeper for me.

tamrock · Jan 17, 2015

I got this at a Humane Society thrift store on the road a couple weeks ago for 3 bucks. It's a memento piece from some serviceman who must have been involved in the North African campaign of 1943. I've read that both the Allies and the Germans had these mementos of their time in the war in North Africa, so being I found it here the US I can only guess it had belonged to an American, unless some American took it from a German soldier.? I was sure it was silver when I purchased it and I never noticed it had an itty-bitty hallmark on it til I got it out to look it over. I Google'd "Tunisia Silver Hallmarks" and got results right off the bat. It's know as the Tunisia "Moor Head Mark" for .800 or 80% pure silver dating from 1905 to 1942. Mark for small articles: Moor head (silver fineness .800) silver hallmark. Hallmarks [url]www.h.cx.[/url] I only wish it could talk to me about who originally owned it and what could they tell me of their time in North Africa during WWII. This little item will go in to my collection for now.

mojjax · Jan 17, 2015

Very nice !

diggummup · Jan 18, 2015

Yeah, that'd be a keeper for me too! Nice find for sure. Great piece for any military collector. Hard to say who the original purchaser was. I believe most Germans were run out of Tunis by May of '43 by advancing allied troops. Those that weren't that lucky were either killed or taken prisoner. Over 230,000 German and Italian soldiers were taken prisoner after the fall of Tunis. So it could have came from a POW or purchased by the GI himself. The Arabs were hawking these rings to everyone.

tamrock · Jan 18, 2015

diggummup said:
Yeah, that'd be a keeper for me too! Nice find for sure. Great piece for any military collector. Hard to say who the original purchaser was. I believe most Germans were run out of Tunis by May of '43 by advancing allied troops. Those that weren't that lucky were either killed or taken prisoner. Over 230,000 German and Italian soldiers were taken prisoner after the fall of Tunis. So it could have came from a POW or purchased by the GI himself. The Arabs were hawking these rings to everyone.

Thanks Digs!... It is cool to find things of this nature that can say something about a particular time and event in history. I have noticed that in the last 15 or so years more & more, heirlooms such as these are coming up for sale as the generation they came from are dwindling away. Now is good time to keep your eyes open for these type artifacts, as many of the family members who receive these items have no interest in them. Could you imagine hitting yard sales in the 1920's & 30's and fining past down civil war items here and there?. My sister has a Jumeau doll that my granddad purchased at a 2nd hand store for my mother in 1930 during the depression. An old used doll was all he could afford to give to my mother who was 6 yrs old at the time. I so enjoy this 2nd hand merchandise type of treasure hunting. It's what I'll be doing full time when I finally retire. You never know what you'll uncover out there.

diggummup · Jan 18, 2015

tamrock said:
Thanks Digs!... It is cool to find things of this nature that can say something about a particular time and event in history. I have noticed that in the last 15 or so years more & more, heirlooms such as these are coming up for sale as the generation they came from are dwindling away. Now is good time to keep your eyes open for these type artifacts, as many of the family members who receive these items have no interest in them. Could you imagine hitting yard sales in the 1920's & 30's and fining past down civil war items here and there?. My sister has a Jumeau doll that my granddad purchased at a 2nd hand store for my mother in 1930 during the depression. An old used doll was all he could afford to give to my mother who was 6 yrs old at the time. I so enjoy this 2nd hand merchandise type of treasure hunting. It's what I'll be doing full time when I finally retire. You never know what you'll uncover out there.

Yup, it's all about the unexpected and unknown treasures that can be found. You just never know. To me, that ring is a piece of history relating to a specific era and the events that took place during that period of time, that makes it a treasure.