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    Daniel Murphy

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    Everything posted by Daniel Murphy

    1. Robin, Since he was passed to the reserves in 1913, he was undoubtedly called up in 1914 to fill the regiment up to wartime strength. Best bet for an enlisted man, would be to find the regimental history. You may luck out and find a picture of him. If he is not in the roll of honor, then he survived the war and you will at least know where he served, what battles he participated in etc. I would try the many sellers of these items in Germany, in particular Helmut Weitze usually has a large number of these. Good luck, I hope you find him. Dan Murphy
    2. So Andreas, are you saying that his and mine are both bronze gilt? Well, it was a nice dream while it lasted. Sorry Stogie. I don't doubt you Andreas, but I can't figure out why they would make hollow bronze. All of the work that must entail just to save some bronze? The Germans are an unusual people, in a good way though. Dan Murphy
    3. This pic may tell you more than the others. Notice the sword on the right of my maybe gold one. Is this what Andreas was talking about with the swords being two piece.? I have a jeweler that I used to work for, I can get him to weigh it. I will let you know.
    4. If this is the wrong place to do this I apologize and if it is not gold I will remove the posts. Here are both of mine side by side.
    5. I had believed that the darker enamel indicated a spangenstuck order since the silver gilt pieces I had seen had a lighter clear green enamel. The arms are thinner than my 938 piece and the quality is first class. Were there any sweat holes etc. on these? Here is the reverse.
    6. Stogieman, I purchased this piece as bronze gilt. Upon seeing your gold one with the dark enamel, I had one with similar enamel. When I conpared the two, it is also lighter than my Friedlander 938 piece. I do not have a scale to weigh it, other than that is there any way to verify whether it is Gold or not. Here are some pics Obverse,
    7. If I remember correctly, the 4th model was introduced in 1864. The first model was used c.1830 as I recall, so it would be someone who was awarded the 1st model and needed a mini after 1864. Not that big of a stretch, perhaps he displayed his original and told the jeweler he "needed a mini like this" That is the only reason I can think of that it would have been made with no enamel. The jeweler is not going to turn away business and made him what he wanted. Dan Murphy
    8. Marshall, You mentioned the "J"s. I have noticed that every piece with a short "hook" on the J also has the clipped/chipped half moon and the the flat side of the clipped moon is in a straight line with the front edge of the short hook on the J. They are also all on pieces missing the period after the W. Since the front edge of the hook and the front edge of the clipped moon are in a perfectly straight line this is very possibly damage that happened at the same time as that on the moon. Something as simple as a file used to clean off some rust or a rough spot, that made contact with the lettering etc. on one side could be responsible. On a stamp with lettering this small, the slightest thing could affect it. This is of course only theory and there could be another reason. Perhaps if there was a tool and die maker on the forum, or someone who knew one, we could get a more professional opinion. There has to be a logical reason for this and mine may not be it.
    9. Right, every metal stamp I have ever seen is made this way. I believe it is mainly to try to give the stamp a longer life so that it would not easily break or crack. Some still do over a period of time, especially if mishandled, dropped etc. Therefore a deeply applied stamp would also show the letters closer together than a weak strike. There are just too many similarities to ignore. I don't care how good a die maker was, for him to hand cut a stamp , that tiny, that had almost every letter virtually the same as another previously made stamp is a one in a million chance. Being a hand cut stamp, some letters may look slightly different since instead of the tip, the area below the tip is creating the final outline of that letter. Using the letter "A" as an example of a stamp (viewed from the side). On a deep stamp, instead of the tip of the A making the final shape of the letter it is the area down near the bar making the final design of the letter. And that area may look slightly different since the stamp is hand cut. Dan Murphy
    10. So, IF all of these are original, it would indicate that they were all struck from the same die, but finished by two or more persons (mine has a slight amount of the "flare", most of which appears to have been removed with hand finishing) . Notice that so far there appears to be three different markings. 1, clipped moon without a dot aftyer the "W". 2, clipped moon with a dot after the "W". 3, regular moon with a dot after the "W". Now, looking at the other letters, all of the maker marks appear to be made with the same stamp (or more than one virtually identical stamps with just a couple of different features. Since these would be hand made this is unlikely). Some are stamped deeper and some are weakly stamped, but there are many identical features are on all of the marks. My theory is that similar to Dietrichs Die Flaw work on the S&L RK's , the stamp used for the maker marks was damaged with use. The lettering on this stamp is so small that it could easily become damaged, and this damaged stamp, when blown up in a photo, appears to be a major difference when we are actually talking about a letter or design smaller than a millimeter The first ones made have the full crown and period after the W, then the crown became chipped and we have the clipped (chipped?) crown with the the period after the W, and then the period was broken off and we have the clipped crown without the period after the W. I am not trying to justify that mine, although different from some others, is real. I am trying to make some sense from all of the inconsistencies. Not only should we look at how they are different, we should look at how they are the same. Dan Murphy
    11. Here is a close up of the dots on the arm as discussed on the WAF. It has the "cats paw", the curved line etc. Dan Murphy
    12. Here is the MM in a negative image. Note, it is a weak strike and some of the letter are not fully formed. Dan Murphy
    13. Here is the reverse. It looks good to me, but I await your verdict. Dan Murphy
    14. Here is mine. It was on the WAF, but the scans were no good. Here are some better photos Dan Murphy
    15. Joe, That is a stunner. nuff said. Andreas, That is the Bavarian Order of St George is it not? A beautiful piece and it has to be rare, How many were awarded of each class? Dan Murphy
    16. Paul, If you ever decide to part with the single EK one, I would appreciate your letting me know. I have been looking for one of these ever since my best friend got one. Super nice case, thanks for sharing. Dan Murphy
    17. Brian, Is that a Chinese route marker or border marker from the Boxer Rebellion? It looks to be made of Marble or something similar. AOK "Armee Oberkommando"? Dan Murphy
    18. Here is the best photo I have been able to get of the markings. As you can see this is my avatar as well. Dan Murphy
    19. The cross is approx 50mm. It was made using two handmade, hand engraved dies. The first pressed the center design into the silver sheet and the second formed the border. There are places where the "flame design is weakly present on the back concave side of the border. As you can see some of corners have different angles and one is rounded. Two of the arms are just slightly longer than the others as well. All signs of hand crafting the dies and the cross itself.
    20. Gentlemen, I believe this qualifies, it is a Russian jeweler made Kulm Cross in silver. There are two maker marks which are almost microscopic and I have yet to be able to read them. Dan Murphy
    21. Otto, Magnificent grouping and story. It is super that you were able to find and then acquire it. Daniel Murphy
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