Godet Hanseatic Red Cross 1st Class.

[Jesse]

I picked this up a little while back. I knew it had what looked like some slight enamel damage when I bought it.
Today, whilst trying to add it to my Hanseatic display I looked a lot closer at the damage. I have a lot of Hanseatic crosses from all three states and I know when the enamel is damaged it tends to crack all the way through or a piece chips away. This does not fit that description.
This seems to have a layer of enamel that is damaged, but when you look close under magnification, the rest is perfect, it seems to almost have a separate layer on top. My images are not so good but does anyone know how these rather scarce crosses were made? It's certainly different from the normal Hanseatic cross manufacture. I could almost swear it has a "protective" layer on top, but tell me what you think.

Were these made with layer upon layer of enamel? I am really intrigued now.

[Jesse]

More

I will try to get better images tomorrow.

[Konigtiger]

I can't answer your enamel question, although I have noticed that these pieces tend to have damage in the form of 'flakes' coming off, rather than the Hansa war crosses which tend to suffer more from direct impact.

I also thought I would point out that this is actually the second class, not first.

Nice and rare piece

[Jesse]

Thanks Konigtiger, they do seem to have a different type of manufacture, which did surprise me.

What class in the version with on a ribbon? I always assumed that was the second class.

Jesse

[Jesse]

Incidentally, the damage is to the lower 3 o'clock arm in picture 3, there is no other damage.

[Jesse]

I can't answer your enamel question, although I have noticed that these pieces tend to have damage in the form of 'flakes' coming off, rather than the Hansa war crosses which tend to suffer more from direct impact.

I also thought I would point out that this is actually the second class, not first.

Nice and rare piece

I should have done my homework, you are correct, this is the second class, the one with ribbon is the third class.

Jesse