Early postwar Knights Cross by Souval (???)

[Matthieu]

Hi chaps,

Just need a bit of information on this particular cross ....
I do collect both postwar St&L and Souval carrying swastika, but not 100% sure on this one.

Story goes it belonged to an SS Officer whom purchased this KC shortly after the war as replacement.
Sadly, the information stops there .... no name, no purchase date, etc.

Its a 3-piece made cross, with non-magnetic ( zink ??? ) core. Low swastika.
No silver markings on the frame to be found. Loop is added from 57er style KC.
Weight is very light .... 23.50 gram. Dimensions are Knight Cross size.

As said, I do believe its a Souval made piece ... but your opinions much appreciated.

Grtz,
Mathijs

[Matthieu]

Dates .... am I seeing a dipping "3" on the front ???

[Matthieu]

Swastika .... low based swastika, does not come above the frame.
Non-magnetic and with metal exposed, would believe it to be zink ?

[Matthieu]

The style of the loop eye is most confusing, does not resemble any of my other Souval crosses ....

[Matthieu]

Some more shots of the loop eye ....

[Matthieu]

All in all, the frames looks very well made, no visible flaws to be seen ....

[Matthieu]

Last shot .... do let me know if more shots are needed ......

[Knight_ridergta]

I think I remember reading something in the Souval EK thread about a postwar Knights Cross with the dipping 3 as seen here.

[Schickle93]

Interesting Cross!

It's strange to see that the loop eyes was not "drilled out". That's a feature we know from early B-frame KC's from S&L , right?

I see a dipping 3, too.

Best regards

Nils

[jonathancol]

The 3 definitely makes it look Souval, although this one is non-magnetic.

[mpiering]

Hi Mathijs,

I think we see here a (very) early Souval KC. There are no flaws on the frame and it shows the typical low swastica and the dipping 3 which we know from the Souval KCs.

I have an identical, non magnetic KC which came with came with OLS (does anyone know the maker of the OLS?) - please take a look.
Alex W. did also post recently such a non magnetic cross.

BR, Michael

[Alex W.]

Hi,

wounderful pictures of a very early Souval RK !
The story that comes with it is nice, but without further evidence it won't be any more than a story. I also have 2 Souval RK's in my collection that supposeably come from vet ownership. One of them even came in a grouping with SS collar tabs & cuff title...

What I find very interesting in particular is that all of the very early Souval RK's seem to have a non magnetic core. I belive the crosses were manufactured as early as 1945/46.
Here are some pics of my early Souval RK. A British vet brought it back home together with an also mint Souval GK. By the way, this GK also features a non magnetic core.
I also have never seen any of these crosses marked.

Best regards,
Alex

[Alex W.]

Details

[Alex W.]

Reverse

[Alex W.]

Ols