Brass core ek's

[Sal Williams]

I have a question fellows, we are all aware that the brass core ek's often have the swastika cleaned of paint and polished during the war. There is photo evidence of this. So how did this start? And how would a recipient know he had a brass core one in order to take the paint off the swa without running the risk of it being iron core and subject to rust. I suppose they could use a magnet but the question comes to mind , were they able to purchase a brass core one specifically so they could sport the polished swa look? Maybe it was discovered inadvertantly by a chip to the core and became popular so the recipients started checking thiers with magnets?

Thanks, Sal

[chris clark]

i was under the impression that krigs marine were nearly always brass core due to sea salt etc and the others rusted too quick. or was it demand and supply reasons for the wh to get brass core ones ??

[Sal Williams]

Chris, as far as I am aware that is just a speculation about the KM getting brass core ones.

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

Chris, I agree with Sal re the KM=brass core theory - a nice collectors story.

Sal, I think you're starting with a false assumption - that ONLY brass-cored examples had the paint removed for a better visual effect (plenty of period evidence of that). I've seen plenty of IRON-cored examples with no paint on the swas but decent paint on the arms (I've also seen the same effect on iron-cored Prussian EK1s - paint removed from the W). The problem is, 60 years later they normally don't look so good (prone to rust) compared to the brass-cored examples that were period altered. What we now see as "wear" and a rusty swas could have started out with a proud soldier (from ANY of the branches) removing the paint from his swas and polishing it. When I think about, the effect of a silver coloured swas (polished IRON) would probably have been more pleasing than a gold coloured swas and more in keeping with the silver frames. Also keep in mind that brass-cored examples would have been a lot less common as they were never "official" anyway. It might also be interesting to consider how many of the paint-free brass-cored swas' we see today were actually altered PRE-45!

Regards
Mike

[Sal Williams]

I did not think of that Mike! Makes perfect sense! I don't even want to think about how many were polished post war!!!

Thanks!

[Tiger 1]

Sal,

I think some soldiers polished the paint off the swastikas to provide more visual impact to a somewhat subdued all black core. Period photos will show this trend on both EKIs as well as KCs. Hard to say if it was politically motivated or just the need for more 'bling'.

Another possibility could be that the swastika being the highest spot on the core would show wear readily. In order to make it look better a soldier may have removed the rest of the worn or damaged paint from the swastika.

All the best,

Tony