Inscribed Godet EK1 w/ fangs

[Montgomery Burns]

I would have thought Oberleutnant would be abbreviated as Obltn not Oberlt as in this case? Any thoughts on that?

Rich

I found ,,,,,,, OLTfor oberleutnant and general komando would be Genkdo

his first name is missing to ..

so military personnel giving this a s a gift to a ranking military person is out of the question .








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[saschaw]

Stone me, I love it.

[Stepdale]

Stone me, I love it.

Haven't heard that phrase in a long time! Thanks.


As to the abbreviations, I have seen Oberleutnant abbreviated more than one way before. By official military lists, the accepted abbreviation was OLT, but I have also seen it listed as OBLT and Oberleut or Oberlt as written on this badge. Same with the Genkdo. Plus it's not unusual for engravings to use different abbreviations for spacing and aesthetic purposes. I'm not overly concerned with the words not being exactly 100% by the book as we have the same practice in the US military, where Captain can be abbreviated as CPT, CAPT or even Capt, or Lieutenant Colonel can be LTC or Lieut Col, etc. These differences are mainly based on which service, army, navy, air force, etc., but they are often used in more than one manner in official and unofficial documents.

Also, in German it's not unusual to shorten only part of a word rather than the entire word. Thus, the official abbreviation might be OLT, but it's not unusual to see it only partially abbreviated. i.e., Ober continues to be spelled out while leutnant is shortened to leut or lt.

So while it may not have been a work done by his military comrades, I wouldn't automatically discount that based on these abbreviations. I may be wrong, but I'm certain there are German speaking (better than my lousy flohmarkt Deutsche I am rapidly forgetting) researchers on the WAF that could point out some examples of what I'm saying.
Dale

[streptile]

Dale,

If you want to move it on, just drop me a note. I think it's a terrific cross.

Trevor

[Stepdale]

Trevor,
Not looking to sell anytime soon, but between retirement in the near future, medical issues, kids still to get through college, etc., I may have to do so one day and I'll be sure to let you know!
Dale

[Stepdale]

Well, I finally got to take this to a jeweler to look at. All I know about him is that he received his "master jewelers" certificate in 1979 and has been selling, repairing or inspecting jewelry of all eras since then, with a focus on items from the early 1800s until the 1950s or so. He inspected the engraving very closely using some very high magnitude/resolution devices. His opinion is the following:
- The engraving was done with a hand mechanical device, i.e., one that employed electricity. He assures me that these devices existed in 1917. Furthermore, he assures me that these devices were widely used by both jewelers and engravers during this time period all the way up to the modern era.

- The engraving is at least "several" decades old and probaly older. Under high resolution, there are numerous details that point to this, but especially details that show the engraving has developed a patina over a long period of time.

- Finally, he feels that all indications are that the cross itself and the engraving "came" together, i.e., this was not a recent attempt to fool anyone.

The bottom line is that I am completely satisfied that this cross is as it should be and the engraving attributes it to the original owner. If anyone else disagrees, I am fine with that as well, but I don't have the time or expertise to carry on the debate, so I am dropping out of this thread for now. Please everyone, just enjoy my poor pictures of a beautiful cross that deserves to be seen by others who, like me, love all things EK related.
Dale

[Andy K.]

Hello Trevor,

A very rare Godet EK I 1914 with – from my point of view – a contemporary engraving. I have no doubts regarding the engraving.

If you will be looking for a new home for this EK, please let me know.

Andy

[Stepdale]

Hello Trevor,

A very rare Godet EK I 1914 with – from my point of view – a contemporary engraving. I have no doubts regarding the engraving.

If you will be looking for a new home for this EK, please let me know.

Andy

Hi Andy,
The cross is mine, though I think Trevor agrees that the engraving is contemporary. I'm not planning to sell it anytime soon, though one never knows with today's crazy economy what might happen.
Dale

[Montgomery Burns]

Hy Dale

I was looking up the guy but found no match to what is on that cross .
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...WoldanKurt.htm

I tell you what ,,,

If you rely want to know who this guy on the ek ,,,WY don't you post it on a German forum ,,
where you can find experts on dates and names .
http://h1797427.stratoserver.net/pub...php?page=Index.
I am sure they would help out ..

if you not familiar with that forum I can post the pictures fore you,,and ask them for help ..

translate it for you if you want to ..

what do you say ?

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[Stepdale]

Thank you very much for the assist. The chances of me getting around to posting these on a German site are slim to none, so you have my full permission to use my photos to post there. Just give me the link to the thread and I should be able to get by with my lousy German or I can get someone there to help with translation.

Again, I can't thank you enough for helping out with this. I really would like to learn the history behind this cross as I doubt I'll ever run into another one again that I can afford to buy.
Dale

[streptile]

Hi Andy,
The cross is mine, though I think Trevor agrees that the engraving is contemporary.

Yes I do

Sorry Andy, I'm first in line for this one

[Montgomery Burns]

Thank you very much for the assist. The chances of me getting around to posting these on a German site are slim to none, so you have my full permission to use my photos to post there. Just give me the link to the thread and I should be able to get by with my lousy German or I can get someone there to help with translation.

Again, I can't thank you enough for helping out with this. I really would like to learn the history behind this cross as I doubt I'll ever run into another one again that I can afford to buy.
Dale

here you go http://h1797427.stratoserver.net/pub...und-inschrift/








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regards Monty

[Stepdale]

Thank you, I'll register and check it out as soon as I can.

[Montgomery Burns]

update

here a SHORT update stepdale ..

3 reactions so far ,,,,

1 WARREN who liked the EK very much and noted THAT YOU EK IS the strait version of the fanged godet. ( rare version )

2 ICHHIER
didn't like the engravings as they are to machined to him ..
but also said it dos not mean its not from the period ,,,,,,,

3 BRONKO72
for him a top ek he only noted the engravings looking to new to him
as the engraving has no patina as the cross is nicely collard raising for him questions .

NO NEWS ON THE SOLDIERS STORY ..

I stepped in and thanked them for the reactions so far and asked again if someone know something about the mans name ...

no reactions so far .

regards kay

[Stepdale]

Thanks Kay, and hopefully somebody can track down the name. All I'll say about patina for the engraving is that this is truly something that needs to be seen in hand and under high magnification. The jeweler I took it to has a very solid reputation and is truly passionate about his craft, so I trust his judgement that the engraving is at least decades old.

Now if that site will quit insisting my email address is incorrect and will let me register, I'll quit pawning my work off on you!
Dale