A Iron Corss for U.S.A. Citizen??

[aurichnet]

who can tell me something about this discount? A EK1 awarded to a U.S. citizen? I have never seen something like that.
The EK has two Schraubscheiben (Screws), one is missing! Does anyone have a spare? On the back the name of the wearer, and the presentation number are engraved.

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[Montgomery Burns]

first up the paper ,,

is a membership card ,,declaring the man member off the union off the iron cross . ( patriots in America )

he became a member because he gave freely a donation to the organisation
who using it in behalf fore those in need and being family off the heroes who did fore the fatherland .. ww 1 off course

so the cross ,,stands loose off the document

the document looks not very realistic to me ,,,,and the combination with the cross markings makes feelings against it even stronger .

but ,,who knows ,,I never saw it before ,,maybe some other members have well documented files about the organisation ..

lets see what other members say ..


regards kay









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[aurichnet]

The Document seems to be not a fake. The seal is made of gold paper, the inscription shaped complex. The document was printed by the American Bank Note Co. New York LTHD. The "League of the Iron Cross" has there been in the USA. But I can not find anythink on the Internet.

Only this report from The New York Times:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive...619C946996D6CF

[streptile]

The League of the German Iron Cross was formed in the USA in 1914. Also known as the Bund Des Eisernen Kreuzes Deutscher Patrioten in Amerika.

The League was a group of essentially pro-German American citizens who were committed to "lightening the burden" of the surviving family members of German soldiers killed in action by making monetary donations. The donations were to be funneled to the families, from America to Germany, through the League.

The certificates are described in detail in that NYT piece, and yours is quite obviously original.

Approximately 100,000 of these were issued. But it's important to note -- these certificates were issued to people who contributed money to the League (women, pensioners, anyone). The League has no real relationship to the Iron Cross, except that they borrowed the name. Thus I think the cross has little to do with the certificate.

Anyway it's a nice little piece of history.

I will upload it here so it doesn't disappear in a week.

[streptile]

You know, I just noticed that the EK1 is engraved with the name and number on the document. While I think the document looks good, and the cross is real, probably someone may have created the group and added the engraving.

[aurichnet]

..

What do you think, is the Iron Cross made in Germany, or in the USA?

[Don D.]

Most people tend to forget that we had a huge German immigrant population at the turn of the century and had the German's not given us a reason to go to war (unrestricted submarine warfare) we may very well have stayed on the sidelines happily selling goods.
Nifty item there.

[Wild Card]

Hello aurichnet,

I’m sorry, but this bothers me.

The document is beautiful as is the EK; and let me say here that I am anything but an expert on EK’s. It is just that I feel that maybe in this case, this EK is just a little too beautiful.

The certificate indicates that there were at least 4,000 such awards. Now assuming that actual EK’s were given with these documents, where did they come from? 4,000+ EK’s sent from Germany? And very fine, high quality, almost custom (in my opinion) ones at that?

Please keep it in mind that the main purpose of these organizations, aside from reaffirming warm feelings and some allegiance to “the old country” for political pressure, was to raise money. So why would such a high quality and expensive EK be given in return for “donations” when something less expensive such as a lesser quality EK, or even a nice lapel pin, would have done the job just as well? Think of the “Gold for Iron” campaign.

Then there is an ethical question. The EK is an official (government) award. By what authority does a private fundraising organization “award” these crosses? Imagine the Wounded Warriors Project, for example, passing out Purple Hearts to donors. I don’t think so.

As I said, very nice document, very nice EK.

Regards,

Wild Card

[streptile]

What do you think, is the Iron Cross made in Germany, or in the USA?

In Germany.

As many people have said, the cross was almost certainly not awarded with the document.

[Rangemaster]

Hello folks:

Wildcard, you hit the nail on the head! The document is good. The Iron Cross is good. But...the engraving is the problem. If we look at the listing from the auction where this was obtained the description says it all: "Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse,.......,auf der Rückseite neue Gravur "4070/ADOLF/RINKER",...". So, it appears as though there is a consensus that the engraving is new and that the "group" is therefore a recently put-together assemblage. This is also in my opinion the only logical conclusion to be drawn.

The document is a beautiful piece of German-American history!

Best regards,

Rangemaster

[streptile]

While I think the document looks good, and the cross is real, probably someone may have created the group and added the engraving.

Also of note is that the document says nothing awarding a cross, and nothing about which class would be "awarded."

[Wild Card]

Also of note is that the document says nothing awarding a cross, and nothing about which class would be "awarded."

In the upper left corner of the document - "KLASSE I".

[streptile]

In the upper left corner of the document - "KLASSE I".

Ah, right.

[Steve Campbell]

The cross looks good, but is missing some hardware. The engraving, who knows, and like any unnamed medal, it is very hard to connect it to a given document or case unless someone got it straight from the familiy and even then......

I can't see real EKs going over forr this type of donation and I feel this is put together. The document is quite beautiful although I know nothing about it.