S&L DK's

[George L]

While S&L may not have created dies specifically for repop DK's, they did create the versions for the 57 versions, and perhaps, they just added some swaz to them for the collectors market at the same time...just a guess. The early 57 and the repop WW2 versions, are constructed in the same fashion.

With the German Cross the question "Why" becomes even a little bit more strange than with the Knights Cross:

- there are two 'types" on the market, marked "4" and unmarked.
- production was only on orders from the PKZ. Why would they order from S&L?
- why would the PKZ oder the silver version?

However, Leroy is right in one thing: S&L would not have produced dies for such a complicated (actually the most complicated) order just weeks after the war. I can't believe that.

So they either had the dies already (maybe in the hopes of getting an order which never realized) or they made the set later. Fact is that there is no awardee and no official trace of any S&L DK.

With the Knights Cross it was only a question of restarting production.

[Leroy]

George,
I believe, based on the "souvenir boards" available immediately after the war, and on the photo in Post 6, the S&L DK's were in existence at war's end (whether or not they actually went anywhere). That would have allowed S&L to already have, in 1957, the principal parts of the dies already available to produce the 1957 version. Most assuredly, 1957 versions have had, post-1957, swastikas added to them in place of the cross, as well. Early 1957 versions are very well made, suggesting the use of some leftover wartime components. Later versions are so not well made (in fact, some would say they look "cheap"). It should be noted that the hardware on early 1957 versions is, as you said, the same as on the versions available immediately after the war, with the exception of the "4" stamp (and even occasionally, that stamp may appear on the pin of very early 1957 versions, suggesting that some leftover pins with the PKZ mark were still around). Later versions, of course, switched to using the hardware we all recognize as typical for 1957 pieces of all types. As a pretty hard rule, S&L did not newly stamp anything with the "4" mark after the war.
Best,
Leroy