EK 1939 Fake RK, circa 1964-65

[cartoonman]

Greetings, Gentlemen (and those Gentlewomen, who may be here, too! ),

In the long-ago (1965), I purchased this post-war RK, in Germany, paying very little for it, and figuring I'd never be able to afford a real one (I was right! ). It was SO clean and new at the time, that it looked "just minted." All these years later, I'm looking at it, confirming my earlier belief of its non-genuine status, based on:

1. Cheap purchase price.

2.non-tarnishing "silver" frame.

3. Strange "glow to the frame.

4. (More recent)flaking of frame surface.

Additional reasons to know this is a fake?

This must be one of MANY from that generation... anybody know the source of these?

All comments/thoughts welcomed... I'll add two more posts, with reverse and a close-up of frame...

---Cartoonman

[cartoonman]

..Here's the reverse...

[cartoonman]

..Here's the reverse...

...and here's a close-up of the surface of the rim (and yes, there appears to be a maker's mark under the ring...)

[Harrier]

This cross was made by the Souval company of Vienna, which never made RK's during the war, but did make other Nazi awards. They have two main characteristics: A low-height swastika and a "dipping 3" (in the date 1939) in which the lower edge of the number is below the bottom edge of the other numbers.

Because Souval is no longer in operation producing Third Reich decorations, these crosses are themselves beginning to have some collecting value to many people.

P.S. The maker mark is L/58, Souvals's assigned wartime LDO number.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Harrier

[cartoonman]

Thanks, Harrier, for the quick reply--- with interesting info! Esp. that it may have value as a no-longer-produced fake!!!! Who woulda think it?!?! And maybe there's someone out there looking for a good forgery...

Any thoughts on the follow-up EKII? Purchased from the same "Here come the Americans; pull out the fakes!" store I only visited once, in Munich, in 1965...??

---Cartoonman