Interesting 1870 EK

[Dansson]

Very interesting thread!

[gregM]

Like Tony, I learned something new today. If I would have seen
this on a dealer's table, I would have passed it off as a fake.

Thanks for posting it and Miro, Thanks for the image from the AWS catalog.

[streptile]

Thanks everyone for your interesting comments.

Tony, I've never seen a photo of one worn. But there were so few men who could have worn one, and I doubt any one of them would choose this type to wear.

However I have seen others, for example both of these from Hermann Historica:

orig sale pic.jpg

Final Price 15K euro.jpg

Each sold for €15,000.00, in separate auctions a few years apart. Quite a high price in my opinion for such an unusual type, but it's hard to put a value on a Grand Cross, even a zweitstück.

You can see, at a minimum, that they produced this cross in their 1909 catalogue:

I have to correct myself. The catalogue is from 1908, not 1909.

[Tiger 1]

Thanks Trevor for the further info. I'm amazed at what these 'odd ducks' of the GC world have brought at auction.
A purely mercenary question ... I wonder what the GCs like I showed would garner.
Hmmm...

[streptile]

Thanks Trevor for the further info. I'm amazed at what these 'odd ducks' of the GC world have brought at auction.
A purely mercenary question ... I wonder what the GCs like I showed would garner.
Hmmm...

Well, I have to say that I think €15K for these pieces is way overblown. The auction for the 1914 GK above was in 2007 -- the giddy heights of the market. The other (frankly more original) piece I showed above on the eMedals site is listed for just over $7K.

My guess is that $5-7K is a reasonable price for a period zweitstück GK, unless it's an award-type, in which case you could expect quite a bit more.

[Tiger 1]

Perhaps I should take these lititle piggies to market....