EK2 1870 - Real?

[Dietrich Maerz]

Please help me on this one. Is it real or bad?

Thanks in advance!

Dietrich

[Dietrich Maerz]

Here's the reverse.

[Brian S]

Looks weird to me but that's Doug's point, there were several makers. But real or not we need to document all the examples popping up. The Latvian or where ever they are coming from fakes.

[Dietrich Maerz]

Hi Brian,

could you please explain 'weird"?

Dietrich

[Brian S]

I haven't seen them all. I don't know them all. So this one is just a little weird to the few I've seen.

Here's mine. Date is bigger. 'W' is done strangely to me from mine. But, my 'W' is weird. But again, I think maybe this thread is premature until we have a batch of good ones from medal bars to really compare.

But at this point showing you mine is like comparing an L/13 RK to an S&L and wondering why the S&L is 'weird'.

Until then, weird is OK.

[Vadim K]

Looks strange to me too. "W" and "1870" seem kind of smaller than usual and the frame does not look like an 1870.


PS Posted at the same time as Brian, seems we found the same things to be "weird"

[Dietrich Maerz]

Thank you Gentlemen!

I didn't want to be unpolite - I just thought that "weird' is not the same like "bad'. Now, again, is this cross weird (like unusual) or is it bad (like in 'fake')?
Or don't we know yet? I personally think that it is a later model since it also has the 25 oaks. Could that be? A jubilee repro?
Dietrich

[Brian S]

Unless it matches a known Latvian fake, it's weird not fake.

[Bill M]

--That obverse shot is terrible, my guess is that the paint actually looks quite different if you had the cross in hand, the reverse looks fine to me.
--I concur with the above posts regarding the obverse details - I don't recall seeing them quite this small, `cept for on a Prinzen.

[Brian S]

I apologize to whomever I hacked this from. It's just the cross from a medal bar once posted on the forum. Just seems more to the norm I was talking about in terms of W and 1870.

[Bill M]

--Wait a minute, is it the pain medication or have I been staring at the screen for too long? Is that a Third Reich frame?

[Vadim K]

Whatever it is, its not an 1870 frame... The frame does look 1930ish. Still does not mean its a fake of course, could be a replacement piece, but I would stay away. Small "1870" really bothers me - especially with the reverse being completely normal.

[Dietrich Maerz]

Bill,

that's what I thought also, maybe not 3rd Reich but surely not 1870. The frame looks 'newer'. Does somebody know how long they made replacements. By the way, the quality of the frame is very good.

Dietrich

[Brian S]

I'm SURE replacements were available to vets through the Reich period. Until they just didn't bother to re-place.

Here's another comparison. I know of 3 of these so far I personally trust and can't wait to see more. All three look pretty much the same. Especially the two outside crosses.

[George Stimson]

I thought the frame looked "Third Reich-y" too.