Anyone familiar with Polish Crosses of Merit?

[eschena]

Hi all:

I have a Polish silver Cross of Merit from the PR period (1920s and 30s) with a document. I understand these are super heavily faked, so I figured I'd offer this up and see what the prevaling winds say...

Here's the cross - cut out variety. I have compared this with known genuine ones and it compares favorably, however, ya never know...

[eschena]

Here's the document. If it looks odd, it's because I had to take two scans and merge them into one to capture the whole doc. The parchment like paper is watermarked "Mirkow".

I've never seen another doc for this decoration...

[GregK]

100%

Hi Eric,

Your cross is 100% original. No doubt in my mind about this one at all. I have several pre-war and wartime crosses and this one conforms in all respects to every original that I own. In fact I have a cased bronze version with an almost identical document. I will dig out the pics and post them along here in a bit.

Cheers,
Greg

[GregK]

Pics as promised.

Eric,

The following will be some pics of my documented pre-war cross in bronze. I think that you'll notice the similarities. It's kind of an all over shot that I took some time ago. I'll snap a few close ups of the cross itself and attach at a later time.

Cheers,
Greg

[GregK]

Promised Cross Pics.

Eric,

The following two shots are of the bronze cross pictured above. Even though it is a lesser cross and of slightly differing design you can see many similarities between them.

[GregK]

The Back.

Notice the different ribbon attachment. I have several known original crosses with both the hook and eye and the plain ribbon.

[GregK]

Earlier Silver Cross.

Here's a couple of snaps of an earlier #'d cross in silver. Slightly beaten up but you can see that it is almost identical to yours.

[GregK]

The Reverse.

Last, but not least, the reverse of the silver cross. Notice the scarce # on the back.

Hope that these helped you and put your mind at ease.

Cheers,
Greg

[eschena]

Last, but not least, the reverse of the silver cross. Notice the scarce # on the back.

Hope that these helped you and put your mind at ease.

Cheers,
Greg

Indeed it has, Greg, indeed it has

It's nice to see other examples from that time period (that numbered silver Cross - wow! ) - unfortunately, all I've seen (other than yours) have been the communist and post communist period, as well as the fakes . I love the document, it's one of my faves. I've always been partial to the Cross of Merit - a very simple yet attractive design, plus the history...

Thanks again!

[eschena]

Did a little research (Google is a wonderful thing sometimes... ):

The pre war (1923-1939) award numbers for this decoration are fairly small. I got the following from Prof. Dr. Zdzislaw P. Wesolowski's site http://www.virtuti.com/order/articles/virtuti.html

1st Class, Gold 15,576
2nd Class, Silver 41,900
3rd Class, Bronze 93,558

These numbers do not include the Cross of Merit for Bravery, which has an additional inscription on the arms of the cross. Some 500 of those were awarded.

The signature (not a rubber stamp, either) is that of Lieutenant-General Felicjan Slawoj Skladkowski (1885-1962). At the time these award docs were presented, he was Prime Minister. He, along with President Moscicki fled to Romania on 17 Sept 39. There's some good basic timeline info on the generals of WW II at http://www.generals.dk/Main.htm.