Post war knight's cross

[PerMilitaria]

Hi!

A friend to me said that a german factory made many, many knight's cross after war for example to US veterans. How can you buy a knight's cross without knowing if it is made during the war or after the war? It's not the same thing to get a 1950 knight's cross made to a US veteran...

Is it getting harder and harder to see differents between a original german tunic and a repro tunic? I think it is not safe to buy german militaria from all over the world. It can be a nice "original looking" german tunic made 1960... You never know.

More and more repro militaria is getting faked VERY good. You will never know if it is a M40 SS helmet faked during the 60's, a german officer tunic made during 70's... am I right or not?

Best wishes from Per.

[Steinar]

I do not think its THAT simple to make a fake tunic or just use a tunic from 1960 or whatever Per.
Theres ALWAYS something that's incorrect if its not made PRE WW2, it's perhaps the same cut, same style, and looks identical on the outside, but all the details might be missing. The details a trained eye will notice.

And if your going to collect these items, you REALLY need to know your field.
If you collect uniforms, get books about WW2 and post war uniform etc

[Darrell]

Hi!

....... How can you buy a knight's cross without knowing if it is made during the war or after the war? ..........

.......... I think it is not safe to buy german militaria from all over the world. It can be a nice "original looking" german tunic made 1960... You never know.............

More and more repro militaria is getting faked VERY good............... am I right or not?

Best wishes from Per.

Per, while much is being fake real good now days, they can't get EVERY detail exact. The key is to study the field you are interested in and know what to look for. Don't focus on what the fakes look like, but rather what the originals look like.

As for Knight's Crosses, Dietrich has a RK book released that shows the details to distinguish the originals from the rest of the pack. That being said, there are a few maker types that fall into the "unknown" area (is. S&L). But you can stay clear of those if you are looking for the "sure bets".

[reichenberg]

In regard to Knights crosses and Iron Crosses - there has always been a suggestion that just after the end of the war, some Germans would visit a medal manufacurers workshop, now empty and disused, and put together some awards from parts left lying around, and sell them to American soldiers who perhaps had arrived to late to pick up stuff for themselves. If this was happening throughout Germany in the early post war years, there would be thousands of items that, while made from original parts, would never had been awarded or even existed as such during the war years.
As I said, it's only a story, but you can imagine how tempting it must have been for hungry Germans to find ways of making money from Allied troops looking for iconic Nazi awards to take home.