EK 1939 Caring For Iron Cross's

[baldy1939]

Hi , I am a new member too this club & also new at collecting . So i am just asking any of you out there if you buy an iron cross with rust starting too show through , what can you do too stop or ease it's progression . Also what is the best way of displaying iron crosses ? Are they ok if you use those plastic medal display stands & if you have boxed ones are they just best left in their box ? Questions may seem strange too you all out there but i want too get the best out of this new collecting bug & displaying them ! Thankyou mark

[Danny70]

Hi Mark and welcome to GMIC!

Generally, I leave my crosses as I found them, as I like the 'worn' look, but sometimes a little help is needed. When a cross is showing rust on the core you need to make sure that it is completely dry and kept in a very dry environment. I have a few crosses that had bits of rust showing and I applied a very, very light coat of oil which I then let dry and then stored the crosses in an airtight container along with some silica gel sachets. The rust eventually turns a black colour.

(Unashamed sales pitch!!)

To show what I mean, have a look at one (the last one down) of the crosses I have for sale here at the moment. It is an unmarked Klein & Quenzer (65) which was suffering from some rust outbreak on the swastika and date. You can see how the rust has 'blackened'.

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22390

I hope you are aware of the addictive qualities of these crosses, so be warned, there's no going back now!!

Regards - Danny

[VonBierStein]

Good advise is to leave the cross as it is. I know it is very tempting to clean the cross and make it shine. I thought on it for awhile on my first cross. Now I am just looking for another shinier example. Gives me another excuse to buy more.