Not the usual cased St. Henry Ritterkreuz

[stogieman]

Hi Guys & Gals! Can anyone offer up any information or help? The case on the right is a recent acquistion from Germany. It's almost double the size of the "usual" case we see for this RK. Lid is titled in gold, but no maker-marks to anything. Case examined in Germany by several of our experienced friends and pronounced real and very nice. So, Who Done It??

[stogieman]

Another view of unusual case

Here's a view of the exteriors of these two cases.

[Bill D.]

Rick...
My first thought was that this appeared to be a case for a Commander grade neck version, with the wide horizontal compartment across the top made to accomadate a folded neck ribbon. However the cross itself certainly seems to fit perfectly within the lower compartment, and I presume that the Commander grade of this order was in fact larger than the Knight version? Could they involve diffeent time periods? Perhaps an "earlier" more lush and larger case that, for reasons of economy or ease of production, was later reduced in size?

[Rick Research]

One characteristic of the few Saxon cases I've ever seen has been the use of paper stickers on the bottom for the case manufacturer and even the ribbon supplier. No such labels, ? non-Saxon maker?

Of course, the Order in there might not go in THAT case, but any clue from the Order's maker mark?

[stogieman]

no clue!

Hi Guys, unfortunately, no paper labels, first thing I look for. Definately a Ritterkreuz case, lid is titled St. Hen. R. and yes Bill, you're correct the Commander's Cross is substantially larger than the Ritterkreuz. The cross in the case is mine, the case was bought at auction in Hamburg. It's really a beauty!