German Cross In Gold

[Henri S]

Can somebody help me identify if a German Gold cross is genuine or a copy.

I cannot manage to get the pictures included here, but I will send them on request.

Thanks

[chris clark]

send pics and i will post for you.email address:

clarkgchris@aol.com

[chris clark]

pics posted

some of the pics.personally i dont like it at all but then again what do i know?

[chris clark]

tried to down size pics as to big to post

[chris clark]

rear

[chris clark]

hinge

[Henri S]

Thank you

Thanks Chris for your help.

[Rich G]

Sorry, but that's the repro typically coming out of Latvia

Rich

[Frank Heukemes]

Hi Bugibbian,

I am sorry to say that nothing about this cross looks original. One of the less dangerous Latvian copies. Check out the DK article on our main pages (wehrmacht-awards.com) that should help you see in the future what good crosses look like.

Cheers, Frank

[Henri S]

Thanks

Thanks to all for the help. Loads of information on this site too, that has helped me to identify genuine from copies.

[Dez H]

Definately 100% Lativa

[Tim Tezer]

Good picture, though...

This is a good opportunity to point out something that can help in identifying fakes. If you look at the picture of this DK you can clearly see the fake patina on the silver, especially on the back. This item has been chemically darkened and then partially cleaned to make it look "old". The dark areas are too dark, and far too regular. There is no way that a silver plated item would get that deep black patina evenly over the whole surface. Even solid silver doesn't tarnish quite like this. Also, although it is hard to see in this picture, the color of this artificial tarnish usually tends to be rather brown or yellow, rather than the slightly irridescent blue shade that natural ageing imparts to silver.

Some of the Latvian sellers have been kind enough to post close-up detail photos of their fakes on Ebay. In those photos you can often see that the bright areas where the tarnish has been cleaned off are covered in uniform scratches - obviously the result of scrubbing them with steel wool or some other abrasive material to remove some of the black crud.

Even the smallest details can give you clues as to the origin of things. Close observation is the key to not getting burned!

Tim