Latest E-Bay Knights Cross treasure....

[sam steele]

Hello Gents,

This KC must be a partner to that one wrapped in Eva's undies

It's Item # 330288805987.......Starting bid just $850 !

Bill

[sam steele]

E-Bay KC copy

...............and a close-up of the markings.....

Bill

[sam steele]

E-Bay KC copy

....and lastly...the loop.

Don't waste yer eyesight on the rest. There's no pics of the obverse, naturally.


Bill

[sam steele]

E-Bay KC

That's the laziest "2" I've ever seen....and that ribbing !!!!!!

Bill

[Leroy]

Actually, Bill, it's a shame someone buffed and artificially forced the aging on this one. This is the one of the types shown in Gordon's book and, when new or allowed to tarnish naturally, looked great! In hand, this type is extremely well made and you can bet that if the obverse were shown, you'd probably see the inner corners filed a bit to accomodate the swastika, something seen on originals from time to time. The swastika is well-formed and high and the core is magnetic. The problem with this one is that the idiots began stamping them with all kinds of stamps (including 935-4, 800-4, 20, 2, 65, etc.), but the frame gave it away as not being correct for a particular maker. If they'd just stamped it '800' it would have been accepted as an unknown, but real, maker. In my opinion, this type fake, when left alone and marked only with silver content, was considerably better than the Rounder. Given that many sites sell other copies (as copies) for $600 or so (and people are still selling the Rounder for big bucks), the opening bid on this (IF you want a nice fake) is probably not far off.

Sorry to rattle on, but this is one of "my favorite" fakes. There are very many fakes of the RK, but almost all of them (99.9% in my opinion) look like crap and are cheaply made. This one (and maybe a couple of others) could "pass" (with the possible exception of a SEM test).

[sam steele]

KC E-Bay copy

I agree that if the fakers had left well enough alone, that this probably would have fooled the novice collector. But where would that lead to? A "burned" collector who would probably leave this fascinating area of collecting forever, believing that everything could very well be a fake.

It's bad enough that the cheats and crooks of the world infect our collecting fraternity, but I could never see myself saying, "Hey, that's a great fake! Congratulations!" I have a beautiful replica of the New Zealand Cross of 1869 in 18kt gold and silver, made from the original dies by the New Zealand Mint, no less. However, it is marked "Replica", and there are visible differences to the real McCoy that would deter would-be forgers. I also have some cased Victoria Crosses made by Hancocks themselves, that are also replicas, and also marked by Hancocks as replicas. But for both of them, I bought them as replicas, marked as replicas, and they will be attractive copies that I can afford - as replicas. This Knights Cross is not advertised as such, and is there to mislead and undermine our hobby. A copy is a copy, as long as we ALL can see that.

I'll get off my soap box, now. Sorry.

Cheers,

Bill

[Leroy]

Bill,
Perhaps I wasn't clear. If not, I apologize.
I deplore the fact that it is being sold with the disclaimer "Not sure of actual period..." but with allusions to it being an old piece. To me, that is as close to fraud as you can come without "technically" crossing the line. It should absolutely be sold only as a copy.
I see nothing wrong with saying that a fake is a "great" fake. Some are, some aren't, but the bottom line is YOU MUST DISCLOSE IT IS FAKE.
IF this was being sold as a repro, then it would be a decent piece for someone who can't pay $9K for one. Price a little higher (but not by much) than the repros being sold on some sites as repros, but, in my opinion, a better repro than those, FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT ONE.
Leroy

[sam steele]

E-Bay KC copy

Hi Leroy,

My apologies for having my knickers in a twist, pardner.....I'll blame it on the winter blahs.

Perhaps a trip to New Zealand, to enjoy their summertime?

Cheers,

Bill from snowy Ontario

[pep]

note that, in the whole image, # effect in the corners appears to be imitated. I don't remember saw this before .... this not sounds good for honest collectors.
anyway, other characteristics as the ring are wrong.