Cross confusion.

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents,

On another forum, where I am a member, there was posted a picture of a group of medals recently for sale on Ebay,

and identification was asked for even though some are blatant poor copies / repro's in base metal,

among them was this one:

Which I always believed was more of a Patriotika item than an official issue medal from WW1.

I drew this conclusion because there are so many of the features of the Iron Cross featured on the front:-

Crown - 1813 - 1914 - "W" - "F.W."

However, a fellow poster claims its a poor copy of a Mecklenburg Cross of 1813

which was in gold and contains the date 1813 and the letters "F.W."

I have not been able to find any Royalty mentioned in the book, Orden & Ehrenzeichen 1800-1945 by J?rg Nimmergut.

Amongst my reference pictures in my files I have this:

but do not know if this is a fantasy piece as one side looks like a blatant copy of the rear of the Iron Cross.

Any ideas and thoughts appreciated,

Kevin in Deva.

Edited February 20, 2008 by Kev in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

The only other cross I can think he means is this model:

but I don't think Mecklenberg had this type of form for 1813 or did they?

Kevin in Deva.

[redcross]

perhaps you could clarify which medal you are asking about,

the first silver one,

or the second,

I've seen the first one before

it wasn't my area, but I am subject to temptation

I don't know what it was, didn't win it,

but I'm fairly certain it is not Mecklenberg

at least is it not in Nimmergut's big work vol 2

[Mike K]

Hi Kevin,

That first cross you picture has hit eBay big time in the last 12 months or so. Imo it is simply a recent fantasy. If there is one out there with genuine "old" provenance, I'd love to hear about it!

Regards

Mike

[Kev in Deva]

perhaps you could clarify which medal you are asking about,

the first silver one,

or the second,

I've seen the first one before

it wasn't my area, but I am subject to temptation

I don't know what it was, didn't win it,

but I'm fairly certain it is not Mecklenberg

at least is it not in Nimmergut's big work vol 2

Hallo redcross

among them was this one:

But, I am also asking now is the large gold cross a fantasy piece as well.

I can find no reference of a Mecklenberg Cross for 1813 with "F.W." on the centre.

or even a ruler from that state with the initials F.W.

Kevin in Deva.

[redcross]

with regard to the second one

as far as nimmergut [4 vol not OEK]] goes

its not in there, so its not Mecklenberg

well, not official at least

and does have the look of fantasy

the first one,

all I can say is

I thought it was worth 3 euro

just as a puzzle of is it real

and if so what is it -

but since it went for 5

I didn't worry about it any more

but with postage costs rising

I'm not certain how often

I'll bid on such things

oh for the olden days when their were plenty

of medals in the market, and only a few were "bad"