Ritterkreuz

[Ludwig]

Herewith some images of my KC by Klein & Quenzer, once awarded to bomber pilot Eberhard Schaefer.

[Ludwig]

Ritterkreuz

2

[Ludwig]

Ritterkreuz

3

[Ludwig]

Ritterkreuz

4

[ChrisJ]

Nice one

Well, that is a nice one !
Good to see it in the correct rounded corner case, too.

[Kecon]

Hi Ludwig

A stuning, jaw droping example of the KC. Appears to be mint, unworn. My question is this. If this is the award piece to Pilot Schaefer, then what did he wear in service. Do you think he went out after the award ceremony and bought a private purchase issue for daily wear. I have often wondered about awards that are mint that belonged to such and such. How often did this occur or was this common practice?

Ken

[RoyA]

Beautiful example Ludwig!
Roy

[rkdek]

Ken,

Very often the KC was bestowed posthuum, at funerals.
The medals were kept by the next of kin.
What I doubt is if in such case a Bezitzzeugnis / Ritterkreuzmappe was made.

Denis

[Dez H]

Hello Ludwig


That is a really nice RK you have there, if it is not too much trouble would you mind showing us a close up of the mark on the top arm and on the loop? Is this RK a part of grouping, or just a single piece from Schaefer?


Regards
Dez

[Ludwig]

Schaefer

Hello,
I´m glad you liked this goodie.
About Schaefer one source says he was awarded the cross posthuum, another the day before he died. I have a photo of him wearing the cross, that doesn´t look retouched, so I guess he actually wore his KC when he crashed. And it that case the authorities sent a new KC to his wife or parents.
I have noticed that in most cases the KC was awarded posthuum (or, like in Schaefers case, a new cross was sent home because the original was destroyed or lost) the next of kins got a Klein & Quenzer made one.
The KC is the only decoration after Schaefer that I have.
I don´t have a digital camera myself, but I will ask a friend of mine to take some close ups of the markings. It will take a while though.