Paranoia setting in?

This WWI EKI on ebay looks fine to my not very expert eye.
But then it occured to me, the guy says he doesn't know militaria
and found it in Granddad's junk drawer, bue he knows to call it
"vaulted"? Is it a good one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

[Darrell]

The obverse looks ok from these pics. However the catch has been heavily and sloppy repaired. The pin looks to be a replacement as well.

[schnellermeyer]

agreed, the repairs are not good

[schönbeck]

yes they seem replaced, but with those really bad pics no one can tell for sure how bad the repair is and last but not least when it was done.

[Darrell]

yes they seem replaced, but with those really bad pics no one can tell for sure how bad the repair is and last but not least when it was done.

True.

[upbeek]

1

run away from it

[Djedj]

This WWI EKI on ebay looks fine to my not very expert eye.
But then it occured to me, the guy says he doesn't know militaria
and found it in Granddad's junk drawer, bue he knows to call it
"vaulted"? Is it a good one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

When you have that kind of doubt, it often pays to go explore the guy's feedback ; not so much for what has been said, but for the items he has already offered.

- Check the quality of the picture ; when the picture of the object you're interested in is not so clear / precise, it's interesting to see if that's because the guy's a bad photographer (happens !) or if he has also offered objets with good pictures (and then you may suspect the photos may somehow be purposedly bad...).

- Check the kind of stuff he's been selling ; if indeed he's already offered more of the same stuff- or not, etc..

In the end it's about taking chances though.

[jwburchell]

Well, I did not run away from it and decided to take a chance...kind of a gut-feeling experiment...I liked what I saw of the obverse, so I bid and bought the piece in question for a reasonable (I think) price!

True, the reverse repairs looked sloppy from the bad photo, and in the end, that was absolutely correct - they are sloppy, but I do not think they were done recently, and the (brass?) pin certainly appears to be a replacement.

The main frame of the cross is 2-piece and the core is iron (magnetic), and it has a nice vaulted shape to it.

So, here are my scanned pictures for your scrutiny and comments... please! I will be very interested to hear what you have to say.

Thanks and regards,
John

[jwburchell]

Reverse:

[sb98]

Looks fine to mean as originality goes. Judging from the amount of wear on the obverse I would have no problem believing the repairs were period made.

[gregM]

That is a good cross. Well worn and repaired. That gives it character
It has that "been there, done that" feel to it. Here is another example--