Opinions on this Knight's Cross please .

[Dietrich Maerz]

The cross is a perfectly good and very nice Schickle in my opinion. The only question is when the stamp was applied, and there's no 100% foolproof way to answer it. So... I'd be very happy with this piece if I were you .

I agree. The 800 marked post war Schickle I have seen have all the second type core and the 800 is not located under the ring. I think someone stamped the cross to make it more 'valuable' .....

Dietrich

[Leroy]

In hand, does the area under the ring in the front show a slight protrusion from the '800' stamp on the back?

[rob NL]

Thanks all for your replies !
Leroy , I think there is , I will make some new photo's today and post them .
Regards , Rob.

[Sonderkommando]

In post #12, it appears Rob got it direct from the recipient?
If so, why would the recipient stamp his own 800 mark on it?
Very strange indeed......

[Leroy]

I asked because I have seen in person a cross (of the exact type in this photo being worn by Luftwaffe ace Hendrik Stahl, where the ring dips into the frame)(not a Schickle) which exhibits the same sort of slight protrusion from an "800" stamp on the reverse. Although there is certainly no way to prove it, I have to wonder if some manufacturers didn't stamp AFTER cross assembly. Maybe not pretty and maybe evidence of carelessness, but still done.

Isn't the normal Schickle frame actually silver (which COULD be stamped "800" if someone wanted to)? Certainly the cross I have seen appeared to be silver and not neusilber or silver plate.

[rob NL]

I asked because I have seen in person a cross (of the exact type in this photo being worn by Luftwaffe ace Hendrik Stahl, where the ring dips into the frame)(not a Schickle) which exhibits the same sort of slight protrusion from an "800" stamp on the reverse. Although there is certainly no way to prove it, I have to wonder if some manufacturers didn't stamp AFTER cross assembly. Maybe not pretty and maybe evidence of carelessness, but still done.

Isn't the normal Schickle frame actually silver (which COULD be stamped "800" if someone wanted to)? Certainly the cross I have seen appeared to be silver and not neusilber or silver plate.

Hi Leroy , it has a protrusion on the back , it doesnt show so good in the pics though , I will post them now .

[rob NL]

obverse

[rob NL]

Stamps on cross and loop , different sizes ?

[Leroy]

Good job with the photos!

On the reverse, on the '800' mark, the last '0' on the right is close to the center point of the ring, while the '80' part is to the left of the center point. On the front, the slight protrusion shows as a rectangular area extending to the right of the center point, which would be correct for a protrusion caused by the strike of the '800' mark. From this, I think the '800' mark was stamped after the frame was assembled.

Of course, there is no way to know for sure when the mark was struck, but I think it would be hard to say with a straight face that it could not have been done during the war (especially if the frame is, in fact, of at least 800 silver content).

Again, thanks for these photos!

P.S. The difference size between the loop stamp and the cross stamp would not concern me at all.