Delightful Ehrenritter JO

[Zepenthusiast]

Have been keeping watch for a nice-looking Ehrenritter JO to come available, and felt lucky to spy this one when first made available:

[Zepenthusiast]

The body is gold, the eagles are hollow and beautifully finished:



(Surprising how much carefully crafted detail was put into them, only to be heavily masked by the layer of black enamel ultimately applied.)

[Zepenthusiast]

Deeply chipped enamel at the junction shows the arms outlined and assembled from flat sheets, not die struck. The cross body is not hollow, but rather filled with the enamel. No base layer of metal is visible, though there is a "bead" of gold tying the arms together at the junction.

[Zepenthusiast]

The seller's description did not mention any markings, but enjoyed finding this and am inclined to think it is authentic:

[morel5000]

Hi,

that is a very nice piece!

Best regards,
Michel

[Zepenthusiast]

Hi Michel,
Thanks--I feel very fortunate to have found it. To my surprise, it safely shipped over in a little " bubble" envelope!

Best regards in return,
Jim

[morel5000]

Hi Jim,

yes I know the bubble envelopes... strange as this probably isn't a badge from $20, so you expect sellers to send it in nice carton bubble wrapped safety packages

again congrats on such a nice Johanniterorden, it's also on my wishlist.
Best regards,
Michel

[Montgomery Burns]

I like that one to,,,


congratulations


regards kay

[Zepenthusiast]

Thanks, Kay! It's really fun to look at it with a microscope. The care that was taken in doing the soldering...the people who did this kind of work were meticulous and had patience one seldom seems to encounter in the present day.

Best,

Jim

[streptile]

Very nice one Jim. And you already have the case for it

[luftkrieg]

A beautiful item, no doubt! A shame the jump ring is missing but an excellent find none-the-less.

Kind regards
Pierce

[Zepenthusiast]

Much appreciated, Pierce and Trevor!

Would love to have had the original jump ring for sure, but I think its absence may have at least helped me out a little on the price, as a consolation.




I also thought immediately about the case, Trevor, but to my surprise it doesn't actually fit (!)




About two millimeters too wide, though the vertical fit is OK. Begs the question if there were any kind of standard size for a JO? (I have a postwar silver Ehrenritter JO of the same size as this, but that is a study population of two.)

[streptile]

In my observation, Ehrenritterkreuze were made in quite different sizes, even if there was supposed to be a standard size. As the cases were all made more or less the same, you often had a poor fit.

My JOH ERK barely fits in the case it came in.

[Montgomery Burns]

Thanks, Kay! It's really fun to look at it with a microscope. The care that was taken in doing the soldering...the people who did this kind of work were meticulous and had patience one seldom seems to encounter in the present day.

Best,

Jim

,,,blessed the collector ,,, who recognized and understands the care and methods of those jewelers..


regards kay

[Zepenthusiast]

In my observation, Ehrenritterkreuze were made in quite different sizes, even if there was supposed to be a standard size. As the cases were all made more or less the same, you often had a poor fit.

My JOH ERK barely fits in the case it came in.

A very attractive combination there, Trevor!

This begs the question, though:

If the JO badges were issued through the GOK, perhaps hinted at by your envelope, as you pointed out in this thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ht=ehrenritter, then it might make sense that a "one size fits all" box would be used, even though it didn't actually quite fit many (? most) of them. That said, the box always fits a PlM...so does that argue it is primarily a PlM box, allocated to the JO as needed?

If they were not issued by the GOK, all the more reason to ponder the use of this style box, since a larger recess/box could easily have been made. (This site http://www.ehrenzeichen-orden.de/deu...renritter.html puts their typical diameter at 55-58mm, larger than even the "Dead Eye" PlM.)

For the GOK to have taken up issuing the JO badges would have made complete sense when the Order was brought under direct control of the Prussian Crown by Friedrich Wilhelm III. Would the restoration of its essential independence by FW IV result in the GOK giving it up? My guess would be no...especially with the Hohenzollerns remaining in primary leadership position and the separation of the State from the person of the Kaiser being in some kind of constant debate...

So, what do you think--JO in a PlM box?