There have been a good number of Hamburg Hanseatic Crosses on eBay lately, and most all of them have been in excellent condition. I decided to get one so first I did a search here and read a few threads about these crosses.
I found out real quick there are lots of fakes and these near mint condition examples on eBay were likely some of them.
I spotted this eBay cross and there were few bids on it. It's salty and couldn't compete with those slick shiney beauties but I thought it looked good. I won the bid...closing price...$37.99.
Here it is, complete with 2 old enamel repairs on the 3 and 6 o'clock arms and a 9 o'clock arm that looks like it was sandblasted but was likely damaged from being on a medal bar. And the best part...the little castle in the center is tuning green from verdigris or some other sort of patination going on in there.
I'd still like one of these in mint condition, but I'm still learning.
What's your thoughts? Ammersee
I found out real quick there are lots of fakes and these near mint condition examples on eBay were likely some of them.
I spotted this eBay cross and there were few bids on it. It's salty and couldn't compete with those slick shiney beauties but I thought it looked good. I won the bid...closing price...$37.99.
Here it is, complete with 2 old enamel repairs on the 3 and 6 o'clock arms and a 9 o'clock arm that looks like it was sandblasted but was likely damaged from being on a medal bar. And the best part...the little castle in the center is tuning green from verdigris or some other sort of patination going on in there.
I'd still like one of these in mint condition, but I'm still learning.
What's your thoughts? Ammersee
There are fakes of these around, but don't dismiss one as fake solely because of condition. Originals of the Hanseatic Crosses can still be found in excellent condition. Look for the red, translucent enamel, visible striations in the arms of the cross seen through the enamel, and a separately applied center medallion. Green patina on these is a good indicator of originality as they were struck from tombak-bronze. Usually you will seen hints of the base metal, showing through the silver-plated finish. The fakes I have seen usually have inferior enamelling and the borders of the cross arms are too wide.
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