Is this DKiG good?

[Klaus O.]

Dear fellow collectors,

I was wondering about the authenticity of this piece. There are no maker's marks and I don't have the exact measurements data.

I thought it could be a unmarked Juncker piece, but then checking it with the pictures of Gordon's book "the Iron Cross of 1939", I am not so sure...

Any interesting comments from your part? I would appreciate very much any of your interesting inputs...

Ciao,

Claudio

[martin]

Hmmm

I would personally give this one a miss.

IMO several things look wrong, most specifically the catch which is not like a Juncker should be.

[Luftm40]

I think this cross may be 100% original. The die characteristics seem to match what a Juncker should look like, and the hinge/catch conforms to those found on later war Juncker badges

[martin]

Cheers

Hi Andy.

I based my comments on the DK article and any Junckers I have seen to date. I haven't seen one with a catch like this and that was mainly what I was homing in on.

The rivets, hinge, pin etc do check out to me but the catch looked odd. Have you got any pics you could share, I'm always interested in finding out something new about the DK, especially the rarer makes.

Cheers

[Luftm40]

Martin, I used the word may because, to be honest, I have never seen a Juncker DK w/ this set up either. I have seen other late war Juncker badges with it though, and the rest of the cross seems correct to me. The barrel hinge on a small raised rectangular platform and oblong plate for the catch are typical of late war, often unmarked Juncker products...pilot badges, PABs etc. Hinges and pins are not always reliable idicators. Juncker DKs also have a thinner, more vaulted and graceful look to them than other makers. Guess we would have to see this one in person, but like I said the die characteristics look right

[François SAEZ]

claudio,
What about weight dimensions, please

[Luftm40]

...one other Juncker characteristic that this one seems to have is the way the sharp edges on the reverse of the star back are neatly chamfered. Juncker did this w/ their flight badges too

[Luftm40]

Here is the back of mine for comparison

[martin]

Interesting

Cheers again Andy.

Interesting points you make re the comparison with other late war Juncker badges, a lot of the characteristics are certainly there. I have only managed to get my head round textbook examples so far, so I am not sure I would have the confidence to buy this one which strays a bit from the norm.

I hope that this one causes quite a stir and we get a good debate going as it's certainly an intriguing example.

Come on Ivan, let's hear it!

[Klaus O.]

Thank you for your comments...

For François the measurements are (more or less) height and width 6,3 cm, needle 5,5 cm, svastika 2,1 / 2,15 (difficult to measure because it's vaulted) and diameter of the oakleaves wreath is 3,9 cm. I can't tell you the weight, since the person who gave me these measurements don't have the proper instruments to do it.

Ciao,

Claudio

[Luftm40]

..interesting. I just pulled out Gordon's book. Actually, the cross pictured on page 197 is almost identical to Claudio's, save for the shape of the plate that the catch is sitting on. In the book it is round. I have also seen later Juncker badges w/ the round plate. I have Luft GCB with this set up. Unmarked, but i think is probably a Juncker product. If I get a chance I'll post some pics of it

[IVAN]

Hi dear friend Claudio,

I am happy to say to you that I am nearly sure it's an original one!

this is a late war Juncker DK type.

No problem with its hinge-rivets-cacth and black star, I have seen again these kind of Juncker's unmarked types !

..only my opinion, but

following a PM

ciao

[Klaus O.]

Ivan,

Thanks for your comment... I was just waiting for it. I was having some doubts, because it wasn't 100% identical with the piece on Gordon's book. Nevertheless I "feel" pretty confortable with it.

Ciao,

Claudio

[martin]

Cool

Looks like it gets the thumbs up then.

Cool...always good to learn something new about these trickier variants of the DK.