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Stolen! Please help me identify/find cross

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    Stolen! Please help me identify/find cross

    Forum members,
    I need your help indentifying and hopefully finding my items a German mover took while packing my household on my military retirement move back to the US. My grandfather liberated a handfull of items during his time in WWII, and passed them all to me as a little boy. I have never seen another medal like I had, and I will do my best to describe it. The closest thing I can find to it is a civilian war merit cross. I had the same shape/dull grey cast, with a 3D skull and crossbones in the center where the swastika would be. It had a short red/black/white ribbon attached on top with a bronze colored ring. The back was smooth, with no date/marks that I can remember. It seemed to be thicker than most medals I have held, and had been dented in the lower left corner. It along with a Luftwaffe aluminum hat pin were taken from me, along with a couple new knives issued to me in the desert. I have tried to research it for hours to no avail. I know he picked it up at the same time he grabed the other trinkets he brought back. He never collected more, it all stayed in his army trunk until my brother and I started playing with it as kids. My stuff was packed early April last year near Ramstein AB Germany, but I didn't take delivery until December - plenty time for it to be resold 5x. If you have any idea what the medal was or if you have seen it for sale please let me know. It meant alot to me and I now have to try to come up with a value for the insurance. Thanks!

    #2
    That's too bad mate, but without pictures, even if we knew what they looked like, how can you tell if the one we see was yours? Little scratches, specific patina, all help identify an item among thousands.

    You didn't have any pictures of the items?

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      #3
      Sounds to me like it may well be a post war fantasy piece, but it is also possible it is from the Freikorps era, Imperial or even Hungarian or something.
      All were known to use Iron Cross style designs, along with skulls.
      Best I can say is prowl around some dealer sites, if it is in fact a legit historical item there must be more of them - But it really doesn't sound like anything TR.

      I have a katalog with extensive listings of Freikorps decorations, I'll browse through that and post back if I see anything similar.

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        #4
        I wish I had a picture, but the cross and Luftwaffe pin were buried in a box of WWII photos that I never got to when I did a photo inventory of my stuff. With my wife and I both retiring/moving from Germany back to the US/trying to buy a house all at the same time...somethings were bound to go unfinished. It is possible it is a post-war/fantacy piece; but its unlikely knowing my grandfather. All the items he had he told me he personally carried/mailed back. He was never really interested in thier monetary value, just what they meant to him. The dented lower left point (from being dropped) is the only identifying mark. Even though the movers/insurance know exactly who packed/lifted it; I'm sure nothing will happen to him unless this was a very, very expensive item. I appreciate any help trying to find it or figure out what it was.

        Scott

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          #5
          Sorry to hear that. You say your grandfather 'liberated' this item? Interesting synonym for theft.

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            #6
            Okay. Thread closed.
            Swindorf, I hope you get your stuff back, but with the little info you have I doubt that you will.
            George

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