Mike K

Hi John, Another nice badge into your collection! I've often wondered at the similarity in eagle design between early Junckers and early Assmanns - Pilot/PO, Observer and Para! Regards Mike K

I have never noticed any tombak coming through the worn areas on it though, so I'm not 100% sure whether it is very heavily nickel-silver plated or solid nickel-silver (neusilber). Reverse....

Hi, Where are all the others? Another Juncker - worn but not repaired. Regards Mike K Obverse....

Reverse....

Hi, Another J2 - anybody would think these were common with 3 in one thread! Regards Mike K Obverse...

Hi, Rick, definitely good observations. Comparing the obverses may be very useful though. There may be variations in the hinge/pin/catch assemblies (I still think the hinge end of the cross in Post#8 is not the typical quality of the period) but the obverse designs may be the same. For example the obverse of my example and the obverse of Christophe's first example appear the be the same to me (allowing for differnt scan angles and scanned colour variations). Hand finishing almost certainly comes into it. Imo, the triangular areas were probably solid when struck (or cast) and have been opened by hand. On some examples you can see very fine file/saw cuts in the triangles, whereas on my example it looks like most edges have been very neatly "smoothed" over (to the degree that it looks like a soft casting in places on the reverse!). The other important thing (imo) is that unlike Prussia, and to a large degree Meck-Schwerin and Oldenburg, EK1 equivalents from Lippe-Detmold, Meck-Streilitz and even Braunschweig, etc, were awarded and therefore produced on a MUCH smaller scale and most likely by a much smaller number of manufacturers (maybe only one or two). A higher degree of hand manufacturing and hand finishing (ie, less mass production techniques) could therefore be expected - eg small orders of say 20 to 50 rather than runs in the hundreds. It's only speculation of course, but it fits certain observations I've made whereby crosses will share the same obverse designs but not the same reverse hardware or the same type/degree of finishing. Regards Mike K

Hi, My only Nightfighter clasp - an RK. Purchased as a bronze but it appears to have the remains of a gold wash over it (not the bronze changing colour). Regards Mike K

For completeness, my example's obverse....

Hi Rick, Thanks, nice to be here! You can thank the other Rick for that (the one in New India ) Have to say that your talk of repairs is totally throwing me! I'm attaching the reverse of my example. It has NO REPAIRS. The little plate between the pin and the central section of the hinge has been there since day dot. Why they made them that way, I have no idea. The same/similar "joining-plate" can be seen on wartime Meck-Schwerin MVK1s (eg Ralph's cased example a few threads down and my own cased example). The plates are normally very thin, not chunky as in Post#8, and from memory are semi-circular. Regards Mike K

Hi Ralph, That's a nice cased example of a wartime piece - great to see! Hard to find them cased. Regards Mike K

Hi Christophe, I'm definitely a fan of the Lippe-Detmold crosses. A nicer design than their Meck-Schwerin equivalents but much harder to find. I think I've only seen Maybauer (crest) marked examples and the pin on your example in any case is imo definitely not Meybauer (either wartime or later). In any case, I like the looks of your Lippe-Detmold cross, and I've seen similar hinge/pin/catch assemblies on unmarked Meck-Schwerin and Prussian crosses. I like the cross in Post#7 - that looks like a wartime set-up to me - I have a definitely wartime awarded Meck-Schwerin MVK1 with very similar hinge/pin/catch). The cross in Post#8 I personally am actually suspicious of. I don't really see a repair - I see a chunky attempt to reproduce a wartime hinge assembly. Regards Mike K

Hi Tony, I agree, looks like a good quality earlier example. I'm sure I've seen that type of catch before, but can't recall exactly where (possibly on a swatika'd repro of some sort, possibly another 57er type). I don't know who the maker is, but I think Deumer can be safely ruled out as the beading pattern appears different and the beading flaw is typically on the 9 o'clock arm on L/11 marked 57er EK1s. This example has a fairly strong beading flaw on the 12 o'clock arm, so examining later war examples from Third Reich manufacturers may actually uncover the real maker. Regards Mike K