Eric Stahlhut

another view of the obverse. this one still has the original protective laquer intact. some makers did this. the white sparkles you see is light reflecting from it. this cross has never been worn.

these are the only marks

yes, that is my reflection in the core

luckily the maker mark is visible

notice the cross. it has been mounted in reverse

Apparently this guy didn't live long enough to win any other awards

as promised. the green on the left side of crown is a reflection from a book cover that the camera tripod was resting on.

so, any opinions on my pilot badge? do i stash it away again for another 6 years or so, or do i sew it onto my Member's Only jacket?

yep, that's what i have always thought--it's funny that the cross was never "upgraded" to a better design. the owner must have been somewhat proud of this cross, as rick points out. in any case, a not-so-good attempt at a "vanity award". it's more like a "hey, let's go use up some scrap metal and whip up a cross for our verein award"!

yeh, it's funny how that list never seems to really go down, isn't it? all of the items i am posting are from before i stopped collecting about three years ago and moved on to other interests. then for some reason i stumbled across that "propeller-clasp" ek1 and here i am again... cheers, gents! p.s. it's hard to pin this one down (pun intended) chronologically because the case is an early one. perhaps the guy who repaired it had a spare laying around..we will never really know for sure until we can find a similar cased example. that would help a bit. i'm hesitant to classify it as a piece made directly after the war, tho--the economy in Germany at that time was pretty bad. i've always thought this period was when all of the lower quality one-piece, brass-framed, etc. crosses were produced.

this guy probably had some extremely interesting experiences...

either this veteran's verein was very poor, or they decided to use pieces from a zeppelin. the planchet is a thin uniface piece of aluminum.

Who has seen another of these?

detail on bavarian crown

backing. the badge looks lopsided in these pics, but i think it's partly due to the camera angle.

found this salted away while i was looking for something else. multiple types of bullion thread. the center background is blackened (tarnished?) bullion as well.

cross is larger than average--approx. 44mm...

repaired

notice the frame