Variations to the Prussian Service Cross

[Carl Christense]

I've been researching Prussian 25 year service crosses (the fifth form produced 1895-1920) on the net. I've looked at eBay and various dealer sites. My observations are there are either a lot a variations, a lot of fakes, or both.

For example, some obverses are "F.W." and some are "F.W" with no period after the W. Was there more than one variety of obverse produced?

Likewise, most of the reverses I've seen are "XXV." but I also saw a reverse (only one example) that was "XXV" without the period. Once again, was there more than one variety of reverse produced?

If you can add to this thread and help clarify the situation I would appreciate it.

Regards

Carl C

[saschaw]

I don't think there are many fakes of this award around. Most, if not almost all, are original ones.

The last form was no more produced in Berlin only and was not distributed from Berlin, but was made and bought by the Armeekorps in each own district. This explains the less good quality compared to the older ones, and it explaines the number of variations. Made all over the kingdom, by several firms, over a period of 25 years.

[römischIX]

there are some variations.
the early variations are rare...