4 nice EK'1 - all the same but different

[rfleming32]

Hooray! I just acquired a collection of 8 very nice vaulted EK's 4 of which I will show here. They are all similar with minor variations to them. One has the Meybauer hallmark, one is marked PM, and the others are not MM. Various silver contents, etc. I am not knowledgeable about these and hoping someone might clarify the meaning of the variations and confirm that they are in fact all meybauers. Also I would like to know the market value since this is not my arena. Are any of these more desireable than the other?
Thanks,
Richard

[rfleming32]

Details of this cross

[rfleming32]

Here are the 4 crosses. The one in the upper right is the one shown above.

[rfleming32]

Here is the reverse of the crosses with notes about the differnces in markings. Thanks for looking.

[Don D.]

No wonder I can't find one. Nice crosses.

[rfleming32]

Thanks Don,
1) Are they all in fact Meybauer?
2) Are any pieces earlier than the others or all pretty much contemporaneous?
3) Any more desireable from a collecting point of view?
4) What are they worth these days?
The remaining 4 are different than this style but 3 of them are identical but not MB's. Will post seperately. B/R

[mario]

Beautiful crosses, some guys are very lucky, congratulations

[Erickn]

Very desirable SB crosses

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Richard,

All are indeed Meybauers. All are genuine with no problems that I can see.

Three of them would be of similar age. The one bottom left is either simply of lower quality or may me a later production piece. Top left is simply heavily worn.

All are fairly desirable, however the two better quality examples on the right would command a higher price.

On an open market (eg eBay), you'd looking at US$250 up to maybe US$400 from low to highest quality of the examples you've shown.

Regards
Mike

[rfleming32]

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I went through Blitz's EK1 rarity stats and it show tremendous variation in EK's. I also went through the "Iron Time" book which was not of much practical help other than stating these types of crosses are considered private purchase and there are less WWI crosses than WWII. I love the quality of these pieces and to me they are generally much better than the WWII counterparts even though those are great quality.

Back to Blitz's rarity stats. He shows 1 RDGM (sic) 633146 (sic?) screwback with 800/500/800 silver marks and 1 PM 800. So I am guessing this style is fairly rare although it appears there are many variations that could be considered rare based upon attributes.

Nobody really said anything one way or the other about whether these are all Meybauer or not. I am guessing two obviously are; the one with the hallmark and the the one stamped PM. So the question would be is the DRGM associated with Paul Meybauer.

Two theories. Yes it is and second is that the fastening device was sold to various manufacturers. The device may have been manufactured by Meybauer or someone else. Since DRGM stands for Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster (German Reich Registered Design), I assume this is similar to a patent mark. I wonder if the records exist on this?

I do not know if determing the DRGM mark as associated with PM or not would be a contribution to the field or not but it might be a nice thing to know or not know. As our former Secretary of Defence state .. "There are things that you know, things that you do not know, and things that you do not know you don't know".

Anyway, I will take a look under the 10K microscope and pull out the calipers and let you know what I find in these four crosses. I suspect they will come in on target but if not that would help prove theory No. 2. Please add your crosses to this thread if it has similar attributes. That would be vaulted crosses with the DRGM 653146.

I may be going overboard here but it seems like an easy one to figure out?
For purposes of argument, I will go with the DRGM number going with Paul Meybauer.

If people think it is useful to pursue this theory and prove or disprove it, I will run some weight, measurement, and attribute tests on the 4 I have. I know there are others out there as they are on the survey. Perhaps the owners could share their crosses with us and provide the dimensions, weight, and details of manufacture, we can confirm or disprove this theory.

1914 EK's have been around almost 100 years now and I would think there would be a reference work out there that answered many of the questions that Franks book on the WWII GAB did. Then again, maybe not or someone would have said something affirmative?

There would also be a second theory regarding the markings but that is for later.

BTW - what are these selling for lately?

[rfleming32]

Mike - I was writing my email when you responded - thanks for the answers! I may convert to an Imperial collector as the crosses are so interesting. My familiarity with Mwybauer is primarily from Spanish Cross. I was surprised to read in "The Iron Times" that the previous publcation has mis-identfied the MB hallmark. So I guess I was on the right track with the DRGM. I assume it is generally accepted that crosses with the number are Meybauer.