OPC ( one piece construction ) EK1

[martin3]

Dear all,

I’ve been playing a bit with my camera and a magnifier.
I guess the photo’s can turn out better with a stronger light bulb in the magnifier lamp, but with a little practice I think this can work out nicely.
I am not so inventive myself, I read several of you make photo’s this way so I thought let’s give it a try.

Let me use the opportunity to show you this piece.
I am very interested if anyone is able to put a maker on this.
And I am aware of the fact that there will be several of you who are not convinced about the authenticity of the cross shown.

Reason: it is a One Piece Construction.
Which is very tricky of course…

I’m curious to your response!

Best regards,
Martin

PS: Suggestion from my side: maybe we can use the abbreviation OPC for one piece construction Iron Crosses.
Makes it a lot easier to search in the database as the standard search leaves out the word ‘one’, so you also get the three piece construction in your searches.
Which is not handy, to say the least.

[martin3]

[martin3]

[martin3]

[martin3]

The picture test site:

[Steinar]

I have never seen this pin on an ek1 before.

[martin3]

That was the reason this one was in my 'suspicious box' for about a decade.

Until I just started again in Gordon Williamson book, The Iron Cross of 1939, due to ehmmm, a mistake I made recently.
So I decided to polish the Iron Knowledge again...

And beng, there it was.
Page 152, at the top.

[StefanK.]

Hi,

you are right, this cross is declared as a wartime piece in Williamson's book.
I bought the same type (as a fake) in order to study this variant and instantly believe that these crosses are not pre 45.

I would not advise anybody to buy this variant.


Stefan

[martin3]

Hello Stefan,

That was my believe also.
Still I got an urgent feeling we should respect the books.

Because I didn't buy it as a fake, ofcourse...

[ben bijker]

Hello Stefan,

That was my believe also.
Still I got an urgent feeling we should respect the books.

Because I didn't buy it as a fake, ofcourse...

Hi Martin,

it does looks convincing until you see the pin.
So far I have only seen this pin on fake ek's, which is not a good sign to me....

To me this ek is not wartime....
Sorry.

Best regards,
Ben

[Mike Kenny]

It is a fake, and relatively recent. Eastern European origins as far as I am aware. The same type of hardware can be found on Imperial EKs as well. In the "right" places (ie by honest sellers), they are sold as fakes.

Regards
Mike

[Don D.]

Same pin can be found on 1870s, 1914, and 1939 crosses on ebay.de.

[martin3]

To me this ek is not wartime....
Sorry.

Ben

Don't feel sorry, Ben.
As I said: this one was in my suspicious box for a decade, and suddenly I read it can be a good one.
That does nothing to the fact that the left and right arm of the cross differ in width and that it weights much too heavy.

I didn't believe it to be real anyway.

Best regards,
Martin