Here is a much higher quality version of this image in the original black and white. Here is the source. Per there:
Private First Class Ivan Babcock Wearing the Crown of the K"Pfc. Ivan Babcock, of the 165th Signal Photo Company, 1st US Army, tries on the gold and pearl crown of the Kaisers of Germany, in an underground cave at Siegan, Germany. The cave was used by the Germans as a storage room for their most valuable works of art, but the cave was captured by troops of the 1st US Army." Original Signal Corps Number: ETO-HQ-45-30110. Photographer: T/5 E. Braum
Here is a higher quality version of the colorized version of this image. Here.jpg) provides the following caption:
Description
29 year old Pfc. Ivan Babcock of the US Army's 165th Signal Photo Company poses with the crown of the Holy Roman Empire in a cave in Siegan, Germany, 3 April 1945. The cave was used by the Germans as a storage room for valuable works of art, the cave was captured by troops of the 1st US Army.
The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire was the coronation crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, probably from the late 10th century until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. An identical copy was made in 1915 by order of Wilhelm II for display in Aachen and is the crown being worn in this photo. The real one spent the war in a bomb-proof bunker under Nuremberg imperial castle.
Babcock survived the war and died in 1994 at the age of 77, he’s buried in South Victory Cemetery, Ludington, Mason County, Michigan, USA.
Photographer: T/5 E. Braum and was provided by The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
![image showing [OC] US Sergeant wearing the crown of the Holy Roman Empire hidden in a nazi treasure cache, 1945.](75283b50-69c8-58fb-895f-74cb440adae2.jpg)
Lexsteel11 on August 25th, 2022 at 12:48 UTC »
I love how I’m sure that is priceless and full of real jewels, but it looks like something a kid made in art class
d0ndrap3r on August 25th, 2022 at 12:51 UTC »
That's not a Sergeant, and that's not the actual crown of the Holy Roman Empire.
It's Private First Class Ivan Babcock, holding a replica of the Roman crown.
https://www.reddit.com/r/wwiipics/comments/gwymsx/pfc_ivan_babcock_of_the_us_armys_165th_signal/
Spartan2470 on August 25th, 2022 at 13:36 UTC »
Here is a much higher quality version of this image in the original black and white. Here is the source. Per there:
This crown is in the Treasury in the Hofburg in Wien, Vienna and also called the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation.
Here is a higher quality version of the colorized version of this image. Here.jpg) provides the following caption: