EK2 1939 - good or bad?

[jt327gir]

Hello everyone,

I bought my first EK2 1939 yesterday. I have 3 EK2 1914's, but this is my first experience with the 1939 version. I'm posting about it because it seems different from other ones I've seen, in the following ways:

1) Suspension ring is smaller than normal, but is marked "5";
2) The cross is NOT of 3-piece construction, but appears to be one solid piece of metal, and is magnetic.

Having read through many of the posts on this forum board, I know many of you here are quite knowledgeable about the EK2s, so I'm asking you all what you think of this cross. To my somewhat untrained eye, aside from the chips in the paint/finish, it looks pretty good, but the small ring and single piece construction bothers me a little. Fortunately, I paid a repro price for it from a dealer I trust; he sold it to me as repro, as he said he doesn't know if its real or not.

My questions would be: Were solid EK2s ever made? If so, was this a late-war expedient? Are there any known EK2s which were manufactured with the smaller ring?

Here is the link to 5 photos of the cross. Thanks in advance for any info!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11422216@N08/?saved=1

John

[sunkist]

the mark on the ring isn't right for a mm 5.

[Hank C.]

Sunkist is right, that "5" is not original. Probably bigger pictures would be needed to definitely say good or bad. 1 piece EKs are fairly rare.

best
Hank

[Jokka]

Helping with posting pics

[jt327gir]

Jokka,

Thanks for uploading the photos here. I couldn't find a way to embed them into the message body. Hopefully someone will comment about this EK2.


John

[schönbeck]

i cant tell if thats a 5 or not. Could be a S or a 9. THe ring doesnt seem soldered together which a common practise on most ek's. Is the outer "silver" rim magnetic as well? If you are right about it beeing a one-piece it should be magnetic also. THe pebbling seems to be sloppy. Compare with other ek. It might just be your pics.

Some ek's have smaller rings.
One piece ek's exists.
YOu need to be a association member to post pics.

[Steve Campbell]

It shouldn't have an "S" as a maker mark. That's an Imperial mark.

[ben bijker]

The cross looks good, but I would have expected to see the base metal, or the brass layer , shining through on the ribbing of the frame.
(Like on one-piece schinkels.)


The ring looks like it had the solder removed, discoloration on either side of the gap.

As I said, the cross looks ok, but these things don't add up....
( I don't have a regular shaped one- piece to compare it to)

Best regards,
Ben

[schönbeck]

i meant that the ring could be changed at some point since it isnt standard soldered.