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Everything posted by Eric Stahlhut
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hiya greg, hope all is well! about the cast appearance that both you and blackcowboybs brought up--it's the original finish! these crosses had some type of phosphate/? layer put on over the frames in order to protect from tarnishing and also increase wear resistance. the casted appearance comes from bead blasting before the "parkerization-type" chemical bath, producing a surface that is irregular on a microscopic scale. below is an example that has not aged as gracefully as jonas' example, but still has the original finish intact. please note a wear spot to the right of the catch assembly where the base metal of the silver frame is showing sorta like the rhodium 'frosting' on ww2-era pieces
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yep! back to jonas' cross--hard to upgrade that one given the condition, that's for sure!
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i like this one but am too lazy to dig it out
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Chris, you did not do a deep enough search on gmic, there have been plenty of these posted in the past... ...I'll take as many of these as I can get in any kind of fastener configuration!
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it looks good to me and is certainly in remarkable condition. the hallmark is correct and is the first style--'St' is for stuttgart--
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Rare box for EK1with inscription 1914/15
Eric Stahlhut replied to Deruelle's topic in Germany: All Eras: The Iron Cross
i finally got around to the two that i have, and i lied...the crosses are not "super deluxe" but they are super nice indeed! the first one with the blue lining is a heavily vaulted .935er (behind pin) and is superb---note the finishing of the pin here is the one with a purple lining---early flat cast core k.a.g. cross -
Anyone recognize this piece?
Eric Stahlhut replied to CRBeery's topic in Germany: Weimar Republic & Deutsche Freikorps
it surely has nice toning on the reverse. it could even be affixed to a paperweight, award plaque, walking stick, or cane. a myriad of possibilities! out of all of them i think the forestry/hunting suggestions are the most logical -
Rare box for EK1with inscription 1914/15
Eric Stahlhut replied to Deruelle's topic in Germany: All Eras: The Iron Cross
i have two of these cases, one with light blue interior and one with purple interior. both have "super-deluxe" high quality crosses in them. i will post images this weekend -
Wessel badge?
Eric Stahlhut replied to UKR -'s topic in Germany: Third Reich: Organisational Membership Badges & Tinnies
the fixing system is totally believable, it is found on all kinds of badges from that era (and earlier) what is the size? -
Freikorps Wolfgang Baltikumkämpfer
Eric Stahlhut replied to Deruelle's topic in Germany: Weimar Republic & Deutsche Freikorps
i don't believe the pin represents a particular freikorps unit per se, rather this is the 2nd type (1933-35) stickpin for an organization representing ex-freikorps fighters and veterans of the post-ww1 baltic conflicts, that went through several name changes and reorganizing between 1921-36 -
field-repaired examples are fairly common, and are an area of collecting focus in itself. also of interest are 2nd class crosses that have been "upgraded" to 1st class by adding a fastening system to the reverse, as well as crosses that have been converted into jewelry, such as broaches in my opinion, any cross from any of the above categories should be considered a unique and singular item and should not be altered. your cross seems to have suffered an unfortunate accident--its hard to determine if the pin was intentionally broken off. i doubt it if the pin looked like it was intentionally cut, i wouldn't have suggested a replacement. to me, a cross with a sheared pin or catch means that there could have been a specific reason why it was done, and hopefully someday the significance may become clear. i read somewhere that the british liked to damage the awards of captured germans troops so that they couldn't wear their medals or badges. no idea if that is true, but it wouldn't surprise me if perhaps a small bit of the story was
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WW1 EK1 D.R.G.M Friedrich Sedlatzek Berlin
Eric Stahlhut replied to johannis's topic in Germany: All Eras: The Iron Cross
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WW1 EK1 D.R.G.M Friedrich Sedlatzek Berlin
Eric Stahlhut replied to johannis's topic in Germany: All Eras: The Iron Cross
very original and hard to find with the disc intact. the retailer's stamp on both components is an added bonus. the blued core needs some maintenance. highly desirable cross! -
other than the snapped pin, the rest of the cross appears to be in fine shape. i would leave it, and if the stars align correctly for you perhaps you will eventually find another square punch example in absolutely deplorable/relic condition for cheap that has an intact pin; then very patiently and very carefully swap it out as you mentioned, purists would of course immediately decry the alteration of this artifact because you would be forever changing the story of the piece. it depends on your motives, i guess. a replaced (correct) pin would increase the value should you decide to ever part with it i tend to leave crosses as found unless mitigation of rust is required, plus i never buy stuff with the intent to resell at a profit. others have far different views/motivations regarding militaria and i'm sure you will read their opinions. or not! in essence, i agree with your initial post on this topic. there are always at least two ways of looking at it, but the fact remains that these crosses with iron cores won't last forever unless they are taken care of and handled/stored appropriately
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first question is: what type of damage? if it's a rusty core, the application of a drop of odorless lucas gun oil would help to prevent further spreading if the issue is a missing/damaged piece of reverse hardware such as pin or catch, i'd leave it as is--sometimes the catches were cut off intentionally so that they couldn't be worn again. kinda like the sword blade that was snapped in half intentionally
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very interesting-- i'm looking forward to learning more! i meant that it was likely that an entrepreneur such as fred harvey would have hired mexicans to organize and oversee the tourist jewelry aspect of his operation, since they had so much experience working with silver, or as you mentioned, had the pieces made in mexico and exported to the US. hence the stamps i have a few pre-ww2 pieces with the swastica incorporated into an indian theme, but i don't think they are silver nor were made by native americans. i think they were good luck charms. i'll post them once i've dug them up
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1914 EKI with Added Spikes
Eric Stahlhut replied to Beau Newman's topic in Germany: All Eras: The Iron Cross
any faint markings on the spinner, such as 'victoria drgm'? sometimes a magnifying glass is needed and sometimes only a few letters can be discernable it looks like a long time ago someone cleaned the heck out of it, touched up the core, and gave it a coating of some type of protective lacquer that has since yellowed do the frames show signs of separation and having been neatly resoldered? strong chance of that happening when the spikes were applied i like it!