Interesting EKI with die flaws - Opinions?

[Anthony N]

Picked up this unmarked EKI, looked at it with an eye loupe & could see what seems to be die flaws on three arms.
Any idea on a maker for it?
Any other opinions would be very interesting.
Thanks for looking, Anthony.

[Anthony N]

2

[Anthony N]

Biggest flaw all around the date

[Anthony N]

4

[Anthony N]

5

[Anthony N]

6

[Anthony N]

Last picture.
This one has fascinated me, unlike any other EK i have.

[don-zamo]

Some of the features I had on mine look exactly like this one, and it was an S&L, and believe it or not mine actually had a little knock on the left side too, like its bent! very random I must say

James M

[Anthony N]

Some of the features I had on mine look exactly like this one, and it was an S&L, and believe it or not mine actually had a little knock on the left side too, like its bent! very random I must say

James M

Thanks James.
Recently picked up a nice KVKI which someone tried to vault but gave up after one arm!
These oddities always interest me.
Ant.

[Hank C.]

Judging by the "3" in the date, I think this is an L/54...might be wrong, but try a search for that.

best
Hank

EDIT: Oops, see here: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ghlight=L%2F54 May be an L/57.

[Robert P.]

Interesting cross, isn't it, Hank? That old thread beings back memories. Looking though our data base I see two cores in the L/54 EK's, one with the L/57 '1' in 1939, the other with what I would normally consider to be a typical L/57 1939 date...
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/iron.../l_54/L_54.htm

And, both are definately marked L/54. It's becoming obvious L/54 used two cores, and this really causes some confusion in judging between the two because the '1' in 1939 is identical to the L/57. The frames of both the L/54 and L/57 look identical. The round wire catch is something I associate with the L/57.

Let me post a view of my L/57's lower frame flaws...

Robert

[Robert P.]

L/57's round wire catch...

Robert

[Robert P.]

AndiK makes this statement...

"its the setup of L/54 and L/57. Both marker have used the same hardware and different catch/pin variants too.

Hard to say L/54 ore L/57.

regards
Andreas"

Hmmm... in this case it may be hard to truly identify this cross without a maker mark. I see the same die flaws in your cross, Anthony, as in mine. Heavy die flaws on three arms. Obviously our crosses came from the same dies. But, which maker I am beginning to wonder myself. I'll do some searching for a marked L/57 OR an L/54 with the same flaws. I thought this was settled long ago, but we need something really concrete to rest on. I think the flaws on a marked cross will give us what we need.

Robert<!-- / message -->

[Anthony N]

Thanks Hank & Robert, you guys never cease to amaze me!
To my less experienced eyes Robert your L/57 & my unmarked cross could be twin brothers.
I'm going to check out the L/54's too
Thanks, Ant.

[Robert P.]

Anthony,

I think it's safe to say that our frames came from the same die. Yours show a later stage with more advanced die breakage, with cracks running longitudinally in the valleys of the beading at 10:00 and elsewhere of the swastika. The swastika of both crosses look identical in detail.

Robert