Dansson

Ferdinand Schörner? No way! That's amazing! Schörner got his PlM in the same operation in Italy 1917 as Rommel did and both served in the Alpenkorps, both happen to be the only two Brilliantenträger who had the PlM as well. Amazing! Very famous owner of that ring. Congratulations once more! Take good care of the ring, we don't want to hear a story of a Bilbo Baggins getting his hands on it

Have better pictures of the CoL 2? I find it a tad strange to see a Medal of Liberty 1.Class with a 2.Class cross of Liberty. NCO class award with an award only awarded to Majors (exceptionally Captains).

Congratulations Chris! I always like the way you give a hint of what you've added to your collection. I guess you´re now the dark lord Sauron who's now united with his rings of power. That particular scene could be named "Fishing trip gone terribly wrong"

It's possibly it could have belonged to a nurse/Lotta Svärd member. Especially women were put into the service of air-observation from the ground so the "Ilmatorjunta" (Anti-aircraft) clasp on the one cross would make sense with the rest of the combination that it's a lady who was the owner of that bar.

Here's something I picked up a few months ago to add to my collection of 1918 items. An attributed junior officers medal bar with a Cross of Liberty 4.class, Commemorative medal of the Liberation war 1918 with a combat clasp "Tampere" and the Tampere Cross 1918. It's quite hard in my opinion to find these medal bars that consist only on 1918 awards. Nothing special in awards, just a nice bar in my opinion. I encourage other forum members to "show off" their Finnish 1918 bars (can be German bars with Finnish awards as well).

Yes, this is a WW2 made replacement (or private purchase) cross of an 1914 cross. The entitled person to wear a EK1 or EK2 could own as many crosses he liked but only wear one of each class at the same time. It's not unusual that the WW1 and WW2 veterans had often two EK1's, their award piece and a privately purchased cross for parade or just as spare. This cross is a beautiful B.H.Mayer product and the case is a bit strange.

Very nice!

Here's one original award piece I have. These were old pictures on my computer which aren't the best picture. iI better pictures are needed I can make some in the next days

It's not at least the awarded type. Considering that all the awarded Crosses of Liberty were in fact made in Germany 1918 by an order of the Finnish government, I would find it strange that they wouldn't have used the same dies and tools for the replacement ones that were located in Germany(!). This is just my opinion based on these facts, and I haven't actually stumbled before on one of this type. The wreath with swords look cast to me. The aging on it looks convincing, but I haven't ever seen a discussion of this type. It might perhaps be an unofficial replacement in my opinion. Best regards, Daniel

Nice ones, the civilian 4.class 1941 is twice as rare as the one with a red cross. Lucky for me that I only collect the combatant versions of the crosses or I'd probably be silver-haired already while trying to find these non-combatant versions...

Congrats Jim!

The cross is original! I have doubts of the box however. It is for sure not a World War 1 box...

Nice original and a quite scarce EK1. Good pictures.

Very nice postcard with an interesting text. It's interesting to see that the closer the end of the war was drawing, the more depressing thoughts is seen shared by the soldiers in their letters and diaries, generally. When I've talked to Veterans of World War 2, I've heard several mention that they couldn't believe they had survived when they heard that the war ended. I've read the letters that my great grandmother had from her brother, in the beginning the text was more of "when I return it will be nice to see you all again...". As the war raged on the text became a bit more carefully written suggesting that "If something would happen..." and later developed into "If I die, I want you to...". A few days after the last letter he was reported as a KIA. Only a few days before the war ended. I added this small story as a side note which is a similar story from my family with a KIA suggesting his own death. My great grandfather had no family during the war so he had no one to write to, so I can't really know what his thoughts were and how they developed. I find it greatly interesting to see how the thoughts and minds of the soldiers developed.

Better photos of the EK2 would be good, but from the pictures it looks like an original Deumer.

Two nice early Deumers here. Both have an iron plated core with a copper coating. other has an early straight pin while the other a replaced pin.

I like the two piece bar from your family Speedy.

Once again, a nice original! Best regards, Daniel

Really nice LDO framed and LDO cored SB Juncker.

Great catch, especially when you know the history of the owner.

Beautiful addition Chris, congrats!

Beautiful Wächtler & Lange, it's a private purchased piece made between mid 1941 and early 1945.

Beautiful!

One-piece crosses exist yes, but unfortunately this cross is a fake. A known and common fake and for starters, Katz & Deyhle made EK2, but not EK1! I hope you can return this piece to the seller

Good original private purchased Deumer. The L/11 marking is a variation of the marking called "boxed L/11".