Dog tag necklaces have become iconic and a highly valued type of jewelry, this has taken time though and their history beginswith military use and this is still their primary use. The use of dogtags in the military are as identity tags so you can be indentified in the case of death or injury. With death often dogtags will help identify victims long after they have died in the field.
Identifying yourself in war in case of death dates back to at least the American Civil War, possibly the first war of modern times where soldiers accepted they were more likely to die than to survive and so took precautions, identification was normally on paper pinned to their tunics. In the Franco Prussian war of 1870 just a few years after the American civil war the Prussian army issued its soldiers with identification tags, these almost straight away became known as dog tags, or rather Hundemarken the German equivalent: this was in reference to the similar tags used for dogs in Berlin that were themselves only recently introduced. Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand used Dog tags from the beginning of the first world war:it was the Americans though who dog tags are still most closely associated with.Americans first used the aluminum tag, firstly round and later rectangular metal tags that are thought of as the archetypal dog tag design now. The design was prescribed back in 1906 as a single round tag but from 1916 the number of tags was increased to two, one to be kept with a body and one to go to the person in charge of the hospital or mortuary. In 1918 they added the serial number system to avoid confusion between military personnel with similar names. After World War One and to this day bodies are uncovered in states of decomposition where the dog tag is the only way to identify a body and to allow the body to be buried with full ceremony and for relatives to be informed.
World War Two is the first war that dogtags are associated strongly with and they are a mainstay in films with the design of the US military dogtags having developed to the rectangular shape by this time. The Vietnam War has the same strong associations with dog tags, though many soldiers would adapt them to stop them from creating noise or reflecting light to give positions away during guerilla warfare. Dog tags are now used by most military in the world and in all wars, the designs still differ from nation to nation though.
Dog tag necklaces have made an unlikely crossover into fashion in recent years, designs may mimic military tags almost exactly with fake serial numbers and other details added but they come in a variety of different designs. Dog tags in gold, silver, platinum and other materials and a variety of colors are available and are used at events such as festivals and concerts as identification of having paid entrance fees. Dogtags can of course be customized with the wearers details added, messages added and even images engraved. The US design and shape is still most common but in many countries imitations of national variations are available.
DUZZLE ART (www.duzzleart.com) displays various art performed by Doug Powell, an artise from Oviedo Florida. You can not only see the beautiful art pieces but purchase them including: autism puzzle pieces, dog tag necklaces, other puzzle pieces gold and silver jewelry and famous puzzle art prints. http://www.duzzleart.com/
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