Prussia Replacement post war Pour le Merite.............

[SteveL]

Gentlemen, a post war (WW2) 1950-60's produced Pour le Merite.

A Steinhauer und Luck made piece and with their specific design features, the connected "U R", the "l" in the le Merite' not conected to the frame, the flat footless bottoms of the eagles, and the distinctive enamelled pillow look to the rear, its baroque style loop mount, but most importantly the flaw on the bottom 7 o'clock eagles wing that all St u L PLM's must have.......It measures 53mm x 53mm and weighs in at 26 gramms...it is complete with a short length of original period ribbon (1950's) and is og bronze gilt manufacture (although a a silver marked 800 was also available).

I collect post war awards/medals especially the 1957 regulation pieces, in such collecting spheres this replacement PLM is a highly sought after and prized addition, I was wondering what you Imperial chaps think ?

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-74171500-1393800102.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-99114100-1393800125.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-48059300-1393800139.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-92580100-1393800196.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-94001300-1393800221.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-09079600-1393800250.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-7645-0-95535600-1393800281.jpg

Prost ! Steve.

Edited March 2, 2014 by SteveL

[Paul R]

Arn't the prices about the same as the wartime pieces? After all, they were official issue to those who earned them back in WW1. Were there any significant design differences between the two eras?

[Streptile]

Very nice post-WWII S&L as you rightly suspected.

Arn't the prices about the same as the wartime pieces? After all, they were official issue to those who earned them back in WW1. Were there any significant design differences between the two eras?

A wartime gilt piece runs about $20,000 with no damage. A gold piece runs to over $32,500. An S&L postwar bronze gilt piece as this one should go for about $500. An 800-marked postwar S&L, maybe $850. So the prices are pretty different.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Streptile

[Paul R]

That is a huge price difference. As an exprienced collector of these medals, what are the biggest differences between the wartime(and earlier) and the post war pieces?

[Streptile]

Hi Paul,

Good question. The main differences are: quality, materials and that special mystique that attends "awarded pieces." Wartime examples are of extremely high quality, made of gold or silver with exquisite workmanship. They belonged to, or could have belonged to, someone who wore them during the war. Only two makers are thought to have made wartime award-type PLMs, and these are the most highly regarded types.

The postwar copies are also very nice, but the quality is quite poor, they were never awarded to anyone, and they were never worn in war. They are bronze gilt or silver. The overall design is substantially the same, but the actual dies are different and no one would mistake a postwar copy with the real, wartime artifact.

Overall though, I think the biggest factor contributing to the high prices of pre-1918 examples is the fact that they were awarded or worn during the war.

[saschaw]

After all, they were official issue to those who earned them back in WW1.

After all, they weren't. There was, from what I know, not one single (military!) plm issued after the end of the monarchy in november 1918.

The later replacement crossses, all of them, were privately purchased, be it in 1925, in 1940 or in 1960.

[Paul R]

Perfect. Thank you all for the clarification.