Hoard cross??

[Tony C]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the "hoard"??

[John Henderson]

Hi Tony,
The "hoard" I believe was a stash of ek first class, found in Russia. I think.
I am trying to find out a bit more myself. I have'nt had much time yet. Perhaps evilmike or one of the others will know where and when these were found etc.

kind regards John

[ejwahl1]

John,

There have been numerous threads about the "Russian Hoard/Horde" (depending upon whether you use the noun or verb).

Try a search and I'm sure you'll find some information.

Regards,

Ed

[Tony C]

Thanks, never heard of them before. Are they all in mint condition like the one shown here?? Do you think they were stashed somewhere during wartime ready for awarding, or taken from a manufacturers in Germany when they were over-run?

Interesting stuff

[John Henderson]

Thanks Ed, as I said havent had time yet, but I will have a good read up shortly.
Thanks again
John

[Woolgar]

That cross takes your breath away !

Nick

[Mike H]

Hoard Cross

Here is an example of a Russian hoard cross.

Helmut Weitze showed up at SOS in 1999 as I recall with a whole box of them. He got them out of Russia, but I don't recall the full story.

These were gorgeous and sold for about $200 at the time. A friend of mine bought 60 of them which financed many, many purchases thereafter.

Mike

[AFF96]

They all just beautiful! Congrats to all. to have one!
Congrats!!
Greg

[Johnny R]

Very nice crosses.

The only Russian WWII vet I have ever met or talked to was a guy that frequented a local Polish bar in Chicago I went to on weekends 15 years ago. He was assigned to an Infantry unit early in the War and then was wounded and reassigned to a political unit under NKVD as an NCO. The unit had the responsibility to examine and send enemy items back to Russia that were of "interest or benefit of the Soviet State and people". He told me they sent everything back. He had some amazing stories sadly I only spoke with him a handful of times. He told my train loads of items were sent back including unused supplies and awards, ammo, anything of potential use. When they got into Germany they were sending back enameled bath tubs, fixtures, mirrors, cars etc. as he said da everything go back to Stalin. . .

[Mike H]

...

I really loved these 26's. If any of you have one and would like to let it go, let me know. I have one hoard cross now but would like another. When they came out of Helmut's boxes, the cross itself was really tight in the slot in the box. They had been placed in there (pressed in) during the war and there they had stayed. No "in and out" being handled by collectors.

Another friend bought one at SOS that year -- and he has never taken the cross out of the box -- to keep that virginity.

By the way, Johnny's right. In another life, I was at the former Soviet Air Force base in 1994 in Debrecen, Hungary. The Soviets had vacated it just a couple of years before. There was not a fixture left anywhere. Long after the war, the behavior had not changed.

Mike

[Steve Campbell]

I don't see how any mint cased 26 can be determined to be from the "hoard" from characteristics of the cross or case unless the hoard crosses had some unique characteristic that no other cross had. I don't belive they did. There are characteristics that can prove a certain cased mint 26 is not from the hoard, but nothing that will say for sure it is from the hoard. Being cased and mint is not enough. The cross shown is certainly not mint, with some rust issues that may have collectors steering clear if it was another maker. It's still one I'd like to have and there could be a good chance it is a hoard cross, but no way to tell 100%.

[Darrell]

Thanks evilmike, I didnt realise all hoard crosses had a covered hinge. Now I know.
regards John

Ok, I must have missed that thread that proved this. They were BOTH covered and non-covered. This came straight from a fellow member that bought several of these off Weitze in '99.

[DouglasDwight]

This may be a stupid question, and it may have been covered elsewhere on this honorable Forum, but does anyone have the true details of the "find." Like from the horse's mouth? There seems to be a lot of "story" surrounding the story (which is not to say in any way that I'm doubting the validity.) I'd just be interested to here "the rest of the story." Even Dietrich and George use the word "alledgedly" when discussing the find (in their wonderful "The Iron Cross 1. Class" book).

[schönbeck]

no pics or similar as I'm aware of.