first did EK second class have a A marking on the ring like the wwII version and second how can a wwi have anL?12 marking ? did they make wwi EK after 1942or 3? thanks
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WWI EKs were marked--or not--at the whim of the maker. There were not the centralized regulations then that came into practice during the Third Reich.
Replacement 1914 Iron Crosses were made throughout the Third Reich, and again from the 1950s, when WWI veterans were still in their active sixties. The later pieces tend not to be as good quality. Pieces made after 1939 during WW2 were often made using the WW2 size frame, and have very crude details.
These were not fakes, but wearing replacements amde for and worn by WWI veterans who had lost or damaged their original crosses. I have seen some excellent, and some crude, repair jobs to original 1914 EKs, showing that their recipients valued THOSE exact crosses, given to them at a time and place by someone who meant something to them, not a duplicate buyable years later from a military effects store. Others were obviously less sentimental, and went for newer crosses. -
By the way, the "A" was the marking for "Assmann & Sohn, Luedenscheid".
Yes, it's true. They made replacements of WWI EKs in WWII. They have usually the size of WWII types.
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