Grosskreuz des EK

[Alex K]

Hi all, can anyone identify or comment of whether this is a Steinhaur & Luck 57er made grand cross of the Iron Cross, 3 piece construction, iron core? or a simpler copy

 

regards

 

Alex K

[speedytop]

Hi Alex,

this is definitely not a "57er made grand cross of the Iron Cross", and that is regardless of who made it and when it was made.

This has nothing to do with 57er decorations. It is a copy; 1957er decorations are replacement originals.

Uwe

[Alex K]

Hi Uwe, thanks for the response, on reflection,I think I may have posted a slightly confusing question, I know that the term 57er refers to certain wartime decorations which were permitted to be worn post-war without the prohibited swastika (From July 1957), I have examples of 57er RK's ek1 and ek2 made by them in my own collection, what I should have said is certain imperial decoration were also made by them "Post WW2", including the Pour le Merite, I understand this also included an examples of the imperial GK both 1914 and possibly 1870 (For the collector market?), my question should have been "Is the example I posted possibly one of those, hope this clarifies.

 

regards

 

Alex

[saschaw]

These crosses are still around on German ebay and according to the offering, it's a multi-piece cross with iron core, but non-silver (still silver marked...) frame. Those are brand-new, and most unlikely to be associated with any older German firm that made awards "back in the days". Only good thing here: they are offered as fake. Nothing for my collection, but if someone needs a filler... there are worse made ones, for sure.

Edited August 17, 2019 by saschaw

[Alex K]

Hi Thanks for the reply, I've decided to look for "Period made" examples, those normally used as museum displays etc, still copies I know but with a bit more "History"

regards

[saschaw]

Ah, I see - hard enough to find I suppose, and everything else is almost beyond possible: Künker announces to have v. Mackensen's real one, among others of his award and many family pieces, in their upcoming autumn auction. Exciting!

Edited August 18, 2019 by saschaw

[Utgardloki]

13 hours ago, saschaw said:

Ah, I see - hard enough to find I suppose, and everything else is almost beyond possible: Künker announces to have v. Mackensen's real one, among others of his award and many family pieces, in their upcoming autumn auction. Exciting!

Oh no! Another group split to happen most likely.

 

 

 

Do You know anything about this one I saw at the Thies Vorschau

Edited August 18, 2019 by Utgardloki

[saschaw]

1 hour ago, Utgardloki said:

Do You know anything about this one I saw at the Thies Vorschau

I only know what Mr. Thies states in his current advertise in the DGO magazine, and according to that, it's an authentic 1870 cross. He also has an 1914 Grand Cross shown there as well. As he doesn't mention provenience on any of them, I assume none is known, but only the catalog will show... anyway, none of them will be within my budget I guess.

[Utgardloki]

Neither mine, unfortunately... I hope it's coming into good hands

Thanks for the info!

[Alex K]

Interesting to see what they go for

[Utgardloki]

Regarding the Mackensen piece, does anybody know if this has ever been on the market or might come directly from the family?

[saschaw]

23 hours ago, Utgardloki said:

Regarding the Mackensen piece, does anybody know if this (...) might come directly from the family?

That's what I have been told; it comes with lots of other pieces, besides other awards also including dinnerware with their coat of arms. The catalog, which will contain all those details we just don't have yet, should be available in maybe two weeks.

PS: Might this thread be moved to the EK section, as it clearly is on EKs?

Edited August 20, 2019 by saschaw

[saschaw]

On 20/08/2019 at 11:17, saschaw said:

The catalog (...) should be available in maybe two weeks.

Now that was much earlier than I expected, but Künker's catalog went online right yesterday!

Check this out: https://www.kuenker.de/de/auktionen/kataloge/326-329

Edited August 22, 2019 by saschaw

[Utgardloki]

The grand cross is Los-Nr. 7450 for faster finding

Interesting is that the case seems to have been swapped with the piece in Freiburg from his Nachlass (when he was still living most likely). In my theory it seems like this cross should have been given to the museum or archive but was in wrong case

[saschaw]

Back to the two Grand Cross EKs sold by Thies in his September 2019 sale: Both were award types, but without a known provenience, and the 1870 cross sold for EUR 36,000 while the 1914 cross stuck at EUR 31,000 - each plus 25% fees.

Edited September 27, 2020 by saschaw