Warning -- This is becoming increasingly more and more NHR. It is of interest here only as it relates to this oddity of decoration on Milton's old Alex.
Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre <[email protected]> wrote: > I do know that I have owned the horn for forty plus years and the > gentleman that I bought it from had owned the horn for more than > forty plus years. Two consecutive ownerships of each forty years plus would date the horn to pre-1930. A swastika would not likely have been part of the engraving on a horn made prior to 1933. Klaus -- I think your assertion is wrong. At least you should support it with some evidence. I have no special knowledge in this subject, but the wikipedia page I cited previously is clear that various German use of the swastika started in the late 19th C and continued through WWII. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Western_use_in_the_early_20th_century and the immediately following section on Nazi use. The early Nazi party -- nominally a workers party -- officially adopted the swastika in 1920, and it was in unofficial use earlier. This is a quote from wikipedia: In the wake of widespread popular usage, the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika (in German: Hakenkreuz (hook-cross)) in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (right), badge, and armband. It had also been used unofficially by its predecessor, the German Workers Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP). Hitler's became chairman of the party in 1921. It and its DAP predecessor had alway been somewhat radical nationalistic, but in the 1920's and early 1930's the party had not committed the monstrosities for which it became infamous. The implications of the swastika around, say 1930, was not the unalloyed evil we understand today. One can only speculate why the swastika is on the horn (although there are probably antique experts who could speculate with better knowledge). Perhaps some worker(s) at Alex were members of this worker's party, and added this decoration (highly disguised, as Milton has described) for the nationalistic pride and/or the artistic mysticism it then invoked in German culture. There are other mentions on wikipedia of highly decorated swastika designs used as emblems for these reasons. I have no basis for further analysis, but from the information available it is easy to imagine how the swastika could be used well before Hitler gained the Chancellorship of Germany in 1933. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
