Let's Study the EK1 by Maker 15

[Tim O.]

Gordon Williamson excludes maker 15 from the list of known EK1 manufacturers in his book 'The Iron Cross of 1939' but 15 is listed by Christopher Ailsby in his 'Collectors Guide to World War 2 German Medals'. Maker 15 is also listed elsewhere in this forum and in the research section, so I hope that means it is an accepted maker. I have two EK1s marked 15 in my collection.

I saw a comment that there is a 'pimple' on the north arm of the frame for this maker. Both my examples exhibit this feature but one has it on the north arm and the other has it on the south arm (they align exactly if one medal is placed beside the other upside down). The two medals have very similar features except the core detail, particularly the swastika, is quite different. As has been speculated elsewhere, does this mean makers used more than one type of core? The pin catches also differ but both types are shown in the research section of the forum.

The 'worn' medal below was obtained reputedly as a war trophy about 35 years ago. The 'minty' one was obtained as one of a batch of EK1s allegedly from captured stocks in Russia. As this maker is not as well known as many others, I thought it would be interesting to compare.

'Worn' example first

[Tim O.]

and the reverse

[Tim O.]

'Minty' example

[Tim O.]

and the reverse of the 'minty'

[Tim O.]

Minty case lid

[Tim O.]

Minty medal in case

[meriksson]

Very nice 15´s
Well mr Orth is a maker that did use parts from more than one maker, maybe that´s wy Gordon did leve him out from the book. I belive that first 15 you show have the core from Souval, but you can also find them whit Souval frames. I also have 2 mint 15´s like the second you show, but one off my have a non magnetic core. Both do have the pimp, magetic one on the 12clock frame, unmagnetic on the 6clock frame.
Mikael

[Tim O.]

Thanks Mikael for the information regarding the Souval core. Thanks also for the thumbs up - it's always good to get that!

best wishes
Tim O.