1813 EK 2 - Opinions please

[regular122]

Greg, Marc, others et al,

Here is a cross that came from the collection of the late Jonathan Bellows, purchased in the late 1970s. Opinions most welcome. I nearly cried when I saw the tape on the back of the ribbon but the tape has been there for three decades. Any ideas how to get it off without damaging or pulling apart the ribbon most appreciated. Thanks, Steve

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next one with crack highlight

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the seams

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next the eyelet

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more views

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another

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and another

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and the last. Thanks, Steve

[gregM]

Steve,
Interesting cross. The core has the right details. That is the shape of
the oak leaves, the date and crown look right. even the cracks add to
the over all look of it. BUT all of the details are soft. almost as if this
were a copy made off of a period piece.

Good or bad? I don't know. That's just what I see when I look at it.

[Brian S]

And that's exactly what I WOULD expect to see on an 1813 cross. The crosses, old ones, tend to degrade beneath the paint. Remember, it's not that it's a new cross newly painted but an old cross where clearly the paint is too large for the cross beneath. Is this one as I describe? Don't know, but maybe. Photos just don't do it for me all the time.

As for the tape, the damage caused by the tape has been done and won't hurt it any more. It's entirely off-gassed its nasty chemicals and now whatever binding is occuring is positive for the ribbon and best left alone. Unless you have the RIGHT museum take it apart for you, keep it unmoved in a case, leave it be.

As for me, I'd own this one...if the price was right.

[regular122]

Thanks Brian and Greg.

It looks far better in hand than the pics. My first reaction was to look for a crack and if it did not have one then I would have been more concenred. Then, the eyelet for the ring looked right. It had the right shaped numbers. This piece has been in a collection for over 30 years and then before that belonged to the remarkable collection of the late Jonathan Bellows. He had some of themost rare pieces of WWI aviation I had ever seen.

I would welcome comments from Marc or Steve Campbell or Wild Card and certainly anyone else that has handled a lot of these or has studied them carefully. This is the only one that I have handled. Steve

[Tiger 1]

Hi Steve,

Certainly an attractive lookin EK.

Looks pretty good in the pics. Let's take it to the next level and see what we learn.

Several pertinant questions need to be asked and answered to make a better determinataion of originality and approximate period.

What I'm curious about are several things.

Seems obvious, but ...Is the core magnetic?

What are the dimensions (height , width, and thickness) and the weight?

Is the core finish actually a paint or other applied finish?

As I mentioned above, it looks pretty good.......

Thanks!

Tony