Award document EK I 1870 to a general

[peter3181]

Hello,

What ist the value of this document?
Award document EK I to a generalmajor Otto von Scherbening dated 19/1 1873.

___________________________________
Peter 3181


"In Westen nicht neues"

"All quiet on the western front"

Erich Maria Remarque

[leibregiment]

Very nice, if you want to sell please let me know, regards, Paul

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hard to say as they never come up.... My one to a Captain got me DM3000 quite some years ago, I would imagine it would be about EUR2500 today... for a General.... hmmmmm

[gregM]

....about EUR2500 today...

Wow, I would have never guessed that much.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

I am not sure if anyone would be willing to pay that... but so many DM prices are taken over almost 1:1 with Euros...

The down side is it seems to be a boring General.... we prefer dashing Divisional commanders to this kind... but he is more researchable than a bog standard captain...

But ask yourself... when is thwe last time you have seen an EK1 doc for sale?

The problem is... the collecting community is often blinded by Bling.... why on earth would an EK1 1870 doc be worth less than an unatributed German Cross in gold?

Are we to assume "Bling" is worth more than history?

Best
Chris

[Heran]

At the end of the day, just around 1.300 of these documents were given (if not mistaken) for the Franco-Prussian war and in the top of that, it was given to a General. I dont know that this document is more expensive or not than one from Deutsches Kreuz, but i wouldnt sell it for less than 4 digits, for sure.

Same with the documents for a Bavarian Tapferkeitsmedaille from the same war, documents ain't cheap.

Good luck.

Best Regards

Heran.

[Chris Boonzaier]

and in the top of that, it was given to a General.
Heran.

Hi,

Agreed, but it is a sign of our hobby that a different attachment on the back of an EK1 can make one iron cross 10 TIMES more expensive than another... but the name of a famous or intersting person may make little difference on the price of a document...

For the most part we Imperial collectors just pay lipservice about being interested in History.... we are more interested in sexy variations of attachments. In that field the WW2 collectors are actually more historically involved than us....
this inspite of the fact that we have way more research material than they do....

If this was my doc, I would say EUR2750... or i will keep it till I die, then my family can sell it at cost... I have done that with a few of my items in the past... anything else would be an insult to history.

Best
Chris

[gregM]

and some people are just not attracted to paper.

My grandfather collected stamps and paper money. He tried
for years to get me into it ---- and I did try. But paper is to soft,
to light, to fragile. So I collected coins instead. I like having something
more substantial I can hold in my hands. While I can appreciate
the rarity and history of the original documents, they are just
not my cup of tea.

[Chris Boonzaier]

and some people are just not attracted to paper.

My grandfather collected stamps and paper money. He tried
for years to get me into it ---- and I did try. But paper is to soft,
to light, to fragile. So I collected coins instead. I like having something
more substantial I can hold in my hands. While I can appreciate
the rarity and history of the original documents, they are just
not my cup of tea.

Hi,

It is not really a reflection on Cross collectors, their collecting field is their own right and they seem to have given thought to pricing and desirebility...., it is more a reflection on those who dabble in paper, but make no effort to learn about what they have.

If Cross collectors have worked out a scale of EUR100 - 1500 for EK1 variations ... why are paper dabblers often stuck in a Rut along the lines of "EK2 Docs are worth EUR25"... Why do WW2 paper collectors price certain units at 2 or 3 times more than others... but with WW1 it means just a few % points ... why do more WW2 collectors read up about units, when there are actually more WW1 Unit histories availible....

Why can a WW2 Award collector say "There were 40 000" German Crosses made, and I will pay EUR2500 for one... " ... but many Imperial paper collectors would humm and haww... about a document in 4 figures...

It has been a mystery to me for years and will continue to be so I think....