EK 1914 "FR", 1st Class, 1914

[Bill Garvy]

Just a really nice "FR" in 1st Class. . .

[Bill Garvy]

Reverse. . .

[Bill Garvy]

Just a really bad scan of the maker mark located just beneath the catch. . .

[Eric Stahlhut]

nice cross!

any marks on the underside of the pin?

cheers, ~e

[Bill Garvy]

Yes, Eric, there is an stamp on the underside of the pin, close to the hinge. I am unable to make it out even under 30X magnification. Any idea what it could be?

[Richard Gordon]

Bill

Super condition! It would be hard to upgrade that one!

I've just checked underneath the pin of my 2 FR and one has additional marks what looks like a 'K' and a whale!!!

Decided to check a few more pieces and discovered my incused WS also has a mark under the pin... a very distinct 'V'.

Rich

[Eric Stahlhut]

here is another with a different style of core

[Eric Stahlhut]

[Eric Stahlhut]

i cleaned up the mark a bit

[Eric Stahlhut]

mark on underside of pin

[Steve campbell]

Very nice FR. I still haven't picked up one of these yet. The mark under the pin may be a quality control mark.

[Obergefreiter]

Very nice FR. I still haven't picked up one of these yet. The mark under the pin may be a quality control mark.

I don't think so. I got my hands on my FR very early on in my collecting career, and on mine there is a very tiny 'FR" stamped under the latch. In fact, I never noticed it for a long time, because there is a "B" stamped on the pin, and I thought that that was the maker mark. What's the story with that "B" anyway? Is it a QA mark, or did FR job out a bunch of pins and hinges to "B"?

Edited April 18, 2009 by Nick Link

[Obergefreiter]

I don't think so. I got my hands on my FR very early on in my collecting career, and on mine there is a very tiny 'FR" stamped under the latch. In fact, I never noticed it for a long time, because there is a "B" stamped on the pin, and I thought that that was the maker mark.

Sorry. Clicked on the wrong spot.

Edited April 18, 2009 by Nick Link

[joe campbell]

i'd love to be able to catalogue the ever-growing

number of stamps such as these in unusual locations....

i remember seeing my first square box stamp and not being able

to get much of an answer as to its' source...

joe

[Obergefreiter]

i'd love to be able to catalogue the ever-growing

number of stamps such as these in unusual locations....

i remember seeing my first square box stamp and not being able

to get much of an answer as to its' source...

joe

I always thought that the square box stamp was a pin mark from the manufacturing process. Am I wrong in thinking this?

[Mike K]

I always thought that the square box stamp was a pin mark from the manufacturing process. Am I wrong in thinking this?

Hi Nick,

Yes, imo wrong. I used to think this to as my first "square punch" had the mark on the pin in the catch position. The mark is also found on the backplates of EK1s (dead center on another example) and on other items, such as Prussian Pilot and Observer Badges.

Regards

Mike

[Kriztofer]

Very nice crosses gents. Finding an extra mark is always a bonus.

It's too bad that the majority of these maker marks are still unknown. Has anyone done a serious study of this gray area of the hobby yet?

Regards,

Chris

[ekhunter]

Good question Chris. With the particular cross above, the jury may still be out on it's origin. I said "may", rather loosely though. I've always thought that FR and Fr were both Friedlander. Why the variance in the mark? I don't know. I heard once that FR was for Friedrich S. Don't know that either. A while back a thread was started on WAF where as someone pointed out that FR may actually stand for ??? Rothe. Can't remember the first name, sorry. The argument in Privateara's first book, was that Meybauer marked croosses were Rothes'. He has since corrected or changed this belief. The argument in the thread on WAF was that Rothe's were actually FR marked crosses. It was an interesting argument. Anyone have anything to add? Are FR marked crosses definately Freidlander? :cheers:

Edited April 22, 2009 by ekhunter

[Obergefreiter]

. I've always thought that FR and Fr were both Friedlander. Why the variance in the mark? I don't know.

Possibly different production runs?

[Kriztofer]

The only source of reference that I know of other than the forums, is Kaiser Bunker and they have 60% +/_ unknowns. I did try to contact the Bundesarchiv in Berlin but I think you have to go in person.

Anyone up for a trip to Berlin for beer tasting.. I mean maker mark research haha!