EK 1914 interesting....

[joe campbell]

a recent pickup.

this is a 1914 EK 1 screwback in nice condition.

the reverse of the cross itself is stamped with a square box.

the reverse of the screwback is stamped with

VICTORIA DRGM.

am i making a BIG leap here, or does this

associate the two.

i look forward to your thoughts.

enjoy!

joe

[joe campbell]

in looking at the above post, trust me when i say it's a box.....

and i'll try to enlarge the victoria.

joe

[joe campbell]

well, i've shot myself in the foot...

i just used an oto-ophthalmoscope to magnify the

"box", and it's not....

i will attempt an enlargement of the MM,

which is either an "M" or a "W".

i'm SO embarrassed....

joe

[Motorhead]

Joe,

that's a real beauty!Have you got it from evilbay.de? Anyway-I like it-could you post a bigger shot of the obverse? I ask because the "square" marked EKs are close to/identical the "CD 800"iron crosses.So if the screw would be the original to your EK......that could help to identify this maker!

Regards

Micha

[Guest Darrell]

Wow that's a first for me ... a screwback with the post on the cross itself. Can you imagine the pain if you got hit on the front of the cross with a 1/4 inch of that screwpost sticking through the plate behind the uniform

[David Gregory]

Wow that's a first for me ... a screwback with the post on the cross itself. Can you imagine the pain if you got hit on the front of the cross with a 1/4 inch of that screwpost sticking through the plate behind the uniform

Under the circumstances, the pain caused by a 1/4 inch puncture wound might be the least of your worries!

David

[joe campbell]

David- LOL!!!

darrell- some of the length would be taken up

by running the post through a pre-sewn hole on the tunic.

micha- i will definately make some bigger pix

both of the obverse and the MM. your input is always appreciated!

joe

[don]

Anyways,It is a nice cross

don

[joe campbell]

micha-

a better obverse.

joe

[joe campbell]

and a few shots of the MM.

the post makes it difficult to get a great shot...

joe

[joe campbell]

and rotated 180 degrees...

this is one i'm not familiar with.

any thoughts appreciated.

thanks,

joe

[Guest Darrell]

and rotated 180 degrees...

this is one i'm not familiar with.

any thoughts appreciated.

thanks,

joe

Hi Joe .. does the screwback disc screw onto this post? Or does it simply push on and get held by friction grip? Looks like no threads on it

[Motorhead]

Hmmm-the core of my "square" marked pinback doesn't match......my CD 800 marked EK doesn't match,too! The trace is lost again ......

Micha

[joe campbell]

darrell-

the screwback does, in fact, screw very snugly on this post.

micha-

along with this cross i got a "manuscript by some guy who was

interested in iron crosses"... it is a signed copy of V.E. Bowen's manuscript

looking tome on EK's!!!

in it, it says one of the 1914 maker marks is IW for johannes wagner.

go back and look at the first jpeg of the maker mark.

could this be a stylized IW??

thanks,

joe

[Motorhead]

Joe,

I've asked a fellow collector about this one-he said it's shurly an original(no modern reproduction).The timeframe could be from 1918-1945.The kind of screw that was used here indicates it somewhere in the 20ies(just my own opinion).The crown looks very"flat" to me(another point that would speak for mid 20ies piece)-is the core magnetic? I would suggest it's non magnetic....But back to the maker-I've done a research in my own EK archive-Johannes Wagner? We've got several "Wagner" markings on 1914 EKs-Two variations of WS stamped pieces(totally different),S-W,JWS....a lot of different Wagner stamps on the 2nd class EKs-to make along story short-no matching core(from what I can see on your pics...) but why would have "Wagner" used a new type of core? The crown looks like the "Meybauer"style,but the numbers doesn't match(remember the nearly closed 4 from PM and G marked EKs)Maybe we could find out more when we have a closer look at the frame-but therefore we need bigger and better pics-the last ones are a little bright!

Uh...hard work for me to write in english -sorry for my bad grammar.......I apologise!

Micha

[joe campbell]

micha-

very interesting response!

theplace where i HAVE seen the IW is on the 1870's

crosses, and apparently mr bowen has seen them on the

1914's.

yes, it is a magnetic core.

PM me with your email address and i'll send you

some geez-these-are-really-big pictures.

by the way, your command of the english language is

JUST FINE! you have nothing to apologize for.

joe

[Mike K]

Hi,

Looking at the marking, another possibility is that it might be the Roman numbers "IV" and therefore some sort of quality or batch mark, rather than a maker's mark.

I have what I think is an "IW" EK2 and both the marking and the core are very different to the example above.

I've seen images of these Victoria DRGM crosses before and there are at least 2 core types. The one imaged here has the very unique crown style.

I don't doubt it's "original" (let's say pre-45) and I could certainly live with Micha's 1920s estimate. Would US$300 be outrageous for one of these do you think?

Regards

Mike K

Edited October 26, 2005 by Mike K

[Stogieman]

Not with what I'm seeing for EK1 prices lately........ common crosses $400 and up, more cased and boxed.

S/B, or something exotic....... $500 to $700.

No kidding, I just perused about a dozen websites today in the US & Europe, I was pretty floored at EK prices across the board. Of course, this doesn't always mean they are selling, but the asking prices are way out there..

[joe campbell]

mike -

your input is appreciated. i just haven't seen many pictures of

the DRGM pieces.

i'm inclined to say that - at latest - this would be pre-LDO

as there was nothing similar that i've seen to this MM.

rick - it's kinda' nuts, isn't it???

joe

[Stogieman]

As an aside Joe, you really had my interest piqued... the "square" mark can also be found on a very few (probably) original Imperial prussian Pilot Badges. It would have been a boon to my research to discover who the heck made that mark! I've seen it on period EKL's and a whopping total of three (3!!) flight badges....

[Motorhead]

I think we should concentrate more on the frames-The "square" marked EKs and the "CD 800" are nearly,if not totally similar-but right now we are unable to trace that markings to a maker...so maybe we should have a closer look at the frames.So who's collecting 1914 EKs made in the '39 timeframe? I must pass-I never was interested in these.....

Micha

[Daniel Murphy]

My 2 cents. Since every other imperial maker marked them with letters, my take on the "square" is that it is a stylized "O" or "D". The D is more likely.

Dan Murphy