Gordon Williamson

JIm, Sorry, don't have any old beat up RKs, they are all rather nice ones. I'm expecting the Zimmermann RK to arrive today ot tomorrow and will post some pics when it does. Dietrich, VERY nice miniatures.

Having mentioned these postcards with the KVK earlier in this thread, these were found on Militariaweb for just 15 euro each.

Indeed ! Very nice Scott !

Don't give up, one may well turn up. It is a fact that W?chtler & Lang made the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, but no one has ever been able to produce a verified specimen of one.

And quite rightly too ! I don't buy into the "Quality vs Quantity" bull that is often spouted by some. I have in the past on occasion traded Knight's Crosses away for interesting groupings of "lesser" items, and would do so again in a heartbeat if the right stuff came along. Of all the pieces I consider my "favourites", the Knight's Crosses I have aren't even in the top ten.

Going through my images files to see what else I have, this is a anice example of the Prinzen sized Spange with instead of the usual two separate prongs, a centrally mounted "split-pin" type prong for fitting through the hole provided in the metal backing plate of a parade mounted ribbon bar." Again, this is a simple generic LDO box, not specific to the Spange.

Yes, it's an L/13 Meybauer. I no longer have it as I don't collect any L/ numbered private purchase pieces, only official award pieces so anly L/ numbered items I acquire usually get traded away.

Well, for once I didn't get the "Sorry sold" message from Detlev, and this little Zimmermann beauty will soon be winging its way to Scotland.

Dave, From "Deutsche Uniform Zeitschrift", the "trade-paper" of the uniforms and medals industry. Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse 1939 mit Nadel...............................Etui..........RM 3.64 (RM 5.25) mit Nadel...............................Beutel.......RM 2.94 (RM 4,25) mit Schraube..........................Etui..........RM 4.28 (RM 6.20) mit Schraube..........................Beutel......RM 3.58 (RM 5.20) If we assume that the unit price of the paper bag or "Beutel" was negiligible (Lets face it any shop you buy something isn't going to charge you for the paper bag you put stuff in), then the case cost around RM 0.70 for both pinback and screwback versions, both the same price. Be nice if that was still true , eh ? In the above prices, a Screwback was 17% more than a pinback. Be nice if that was still the case too. But of course back then the price differential related to the extra work in making a screwback with no "rarity premium".

Jim, Nice looking Spange. The box may well be real but it is a generic box, not specific to the Spange, but could be used I suspect for just about anything of a suitable size. Original period announcements in "Schwert und Spaten" specified the boxes / cartons for each award. For the Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class it is described thus ; "Karton, grau, f?r die Spange zum E.K. II Kl." Like this

Very late war doc to a sailor in the naval base at St. Nazaire with his Soldbuch

This is the military version of the document for the KVK2 without Swords, Hitler is referred to in the civilian version as just "Der F?hrer" but in the military version ( which is A5 as opposed to the civilian A4) also as "Obersten Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht" This one to an office worker at the Army Munitions/Armaments Office.

KVK2 without Swords to a Departmental Secretary in Erwitte. This is the "Civilian" version of the KVK2 without Swords document Quite an impressive doc for such a lowly award.

Picked up a couple of nice KVK docs in the last few weeks. This one is for the KVM, to a Post Office Inspector in Halle.

Hi Laurence, Thanks for the tip. Had a look. Nice card but overpriced. I see them around from time to time in the UK for around ?15 (less than $30). I have a line on a few others at the moment, so something should come of that.

Dave, I've seen brass centre crosses in attributed Army and Luftwaffe groupings too. I dare say that KM people may well have specifically asked for brass centred pieces if they were buying additional examples, but they were not made specifically for the Navy. Gordon

Rudolf Souval (RS)

Rudolf Karneth (RK)

L/53 marked zink version of the Hymenn badge.

Foerster & Barth

B H Mayer in Zink. Note the L.18 in zink is totally different to the L.18 in Tombak but both are absolutely 100% period originals.

Meybauer L/13 in Zink

Klein & Quenzer

GWL

Friedrich Orth, rarer type with segmented swastika