Another Trinket

[Tom Y]

I bought this as a copy since I'd given up hope of ever finding an original, but the more I look at the wear marks on the reverse the more I wonder. It tates bronze, but it's definitely cast, with obvious sprue marks on the edges. It's hard to imagine a cheap wearer's copy of this one.

[stogieman]

The GMVK & copies

Hi Tom, I've studied this one a bit, the award always has intrigued me, like the other bravery awards for enlisted men. The awarded crosses were revered.... I've only seen one official award (hallmarked 938 & W, proper knob suspension) in a mounted group. I think it was some time back that Detlev explained to me the way it usually went. The vets went in to remount their medals with new ones and the jeweler gave them the "gee, wouldn't a nice shiny one look better??" speech. So the real cross gets packed away and the bronze-gilt one appears. I've owned two bars with bronze-gilt crosses. Both had small ring suspension loops, like yours, but the quality and detail on these were of a higher level than about 90% of the bronze ones I see in the last 2-3 years.
I believe that the B-G pieces are mostly re-pops, to fill the collector void/demand for examples of this cross.
I would recommend to anyone interested in this cross to do a search back through as we've covered it in several threads and there should still be HD Scans of real ones posted.
So, while the B-G pieces might be real, even when they are, I wouldn't attach too high a value to them. As with all pieces of this nature. You're really better off waiting for a "textbook" example.
Now, if the $$ on these reflected their true scarcity, they would cost more than a WW2 Knight's Cross!