Ek1 Good Or Bad

[BOB C]

I'm Going To Put This On Estand But I'm Not Sure If It's Good Or Not It Feels Very Light To Me.
I Had A Guy Tell Me That It Was A Imperial Ek1 Made In Ww11.
That You Could Tell This Because Of The Frame. I Think The Guy Is Full Of S**t.
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP I CAN GET ON THIS ONE.

[BOB C]

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[Mike Kenny]

The guy was not full of sh*t - he was spot on correct. Although the frame is not the best way to ID the period of this cross - the POST-41 LDO marking (L/11 for Deumer) is the best way to ID the period for THIS cross. If it was unmarked, the hardware and to a certain degree the finish would indicate TR period to me. If a measurement was provided, the cross would probably be closer to 44mm than 43 mm (keeping the vaulting in mind), further indicating TR production. Although not well imaged, the case also appears to be TR rather than 30s or earlier.

Regards
Mike

[BOB C]

WOW I GUESS YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.
THANK YOU MIKE

[Steve Campbell]

Yes Bob, the 1914 Iron Cross was made during the war and even after as a replacement for eligible veterans. In the TR era, some makers marked the crosses with a typical LDO number. Some have been seen with the official PKZ number also. It's an interesting arae of collecting these medals. The L/11 marked ones are among the more common of these, although I don't know how many of the various LDO makers made these and how many have been found. I don't think every maker did it. Here's my L/11 TR era 1914 EK1. Compare it to yours.

[Steve Campbell]

The rear. The mark on yours looks like the typical L/11 mark found in the box.

[Steve Campbell]

Bob, here's that L/52 screwback I mentioned to you. You can see how the core paint is of a matte type finish. The frames on these are of the shinier "new silver" type used on TR era EKs.

[Steve Campbell]

This one is marked L/52, for C. F. Zimmerman.

[Steve Campbell]

This one came in an LDO marked case made for screwbacks.