Bogus Knights Cross

[AUSGANG]

My first fake! Yeah, bought this KC sight unseen, thought I had a live one; turned out it was me. Claimed 3 piece turned out to be one solid piece of junk... crappy casting et al. So I stripped the paint off, why not? Unless they made KCs in the field I now have an expensive paperweight, and not much of one at that! Serves me right for thinking I knew it all after a year collecting and 4 months on WA.

[Darrell]

Well ... you may as well post it in the "Fakes" section

[Adrian]

Is it made of lead? Looks like one I received a few weeks back. I won a '57 EK2 on ebay, few days later I got a package through the letter box, I opened it and saw a KC in the bottom!! My hands started shaking as the possibility of someone sending me a real genuine KC by mistake started to dawn - then it fell out.
After the pain subsided from the foot it landed on I picked it up and realised I had the most beautifully crafted lump of lead that I had ever seen in my entire life. I could even write with it!
Needless to say it went straight back and the seller refunded me the money I spent plus double the amount it cost to send it back to him!!
Anyway, it looked exactly the same as the one shown.

[Bob Hritz]

It sure looks like the medals cast by Saxony House of Illinois. By the way, they are not lead, but antimony from used typesetting scrap. I believe the wholesale was $7.00 and the retail catalog price was $12.00. Long out of business, the owner, Phillip Weber, has passed to the Great Void.

Bob Hritz

[AUSGANG]

Burned

Is it made of lead? Looks like one I received a few weeks back. I won a '57 EK2 on ebay, few days later I got a package through the letter box, I opened it and saw a KC in the bottom!! My hands started shaking as the possibility of someone sending me a real genuine KC by mistake started to dawn - then it fell out.
After the pain subsided from the foot it landed on I picked it up and realised I had the most beautifully crafted lump of lead that I had ever seen in my entire life. I could even write with it!
Needless to say it went straight back and the seller refunded me the money I spent plus double the amount it cost to send it back to him!!
Anyway, it looked exactly the same as the one shown.

No, it looks like nickel or nickel-silver. I was looking for an EK2 to KC field conversion. After reading about them here on WA I guess those are rarer that i thought. Thanks for the messages.

[Bob Hritz]

I would bet a shiney new dime that you can cut the edge with your thumbnail. Try writing with the edge, on a piece of white bond paper.

Bob Hritz

[Don D.]

It sure looks like the medals cast by Saxony House of Illinois. By the way, they are not lead, but antimony from used typesetting scrap. I believe the wholesale was $7.00 and the retail catalog price was $12.00. Long out of business, the owner, Phillip Weber, has passed to the Great Void.

Bob Hritz

Bob, this is the the type of knowledge that you older (sorry ) collectors bring to the forum. Not only do you know real pieces but you also have timelines on all the junk that has been floated thru the years.
thanks.

[Bob Hritz]

Yes, Don, age has it's acquisition of experience, along with the decay of everything else!

Phillip Weber was a fine man and made cast medals and badges, sold as replicas. They were not even close to originals, so deception was not an issue.

I bought the Steinhauer and Lueck pattern Knight's Cross from Phil Weber, that was used for these copies. It was a nonmagnitic example with zinc core and neusilber borders. Perhaps, with examination of the cast copy, we will determine it to be a type B. I have not had it for years, as I replaced it with the $70.00 L/52 Knight's Cross I still own. A nonmagnetic Knight's Cross was virtually worthless, back in the mid 1960s.

It was an experience to handle authentic medals and badges that Phillip used for patterns. Dr. Pudlowski's 18 Victoria Crosses were personally examined, by me, when introduced by Phillip Weber. I had a wonderful friend, in Phillip Weber, and I miss him greatly.

Bob Hritz

[AUSGANG]

Phillip Weber was a fine man and made cast medals and badges, sold as replicas. They were not even close to originals, so deception was not an issue.
Bob Hritz

Were these copies sold as costume jewelry, surfer's crosses or just to have until a real one came along? How many of these do you reckon he manufactured and when? Thanks a lot for all the information!

[Bob Hritz]

They were sold as replicas, along with many hundreds of other medals, badges, and pins from many countries, as well as other trinkets that were not military. he even made the OMSA bars for convention attendance and other commercial orders and medals for clubs, etc.

Phillip had a legimate business and had high-school students finishing, plating, painting and working on the medals, badges and pins. He was affiliated with a work-study program, through the high school, in Mokena, Illinois.

Phillip made many-many thousands of Knight's Crosses and Iron Crosses, from the late 1950's to about 2000.

Bob Hritz

[AUSGANG]

Thanks again for all the information, Bob. I don't feel QUITE as ripped off now that I've learned some new things. Do you know if the same company made surfer's crosses like this one? Ausgang

[AUSGANG]

I realize that this is a serious forum and I apologize to anyone that may take offense at my bringing in the non-Wehrmacht surfer's cross. Ausgang

[Jgeary]

The surfers cross is a fake.

[Gary Campbell]

The surfers cross is a fake.

Sorry, James but I have to disagree. That looks like a genuine surfer's cross to me!

[Ludwig]

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