Post War Knight's Crosses
In my motel buy travels I ran across a German in the Chicago area who came to the US in the 1950s. He was too young for the war, but was in the HJ and always was a collector of medals. IN the early 1950s after arriving in the states he contacted various medal producers in Germany and bought many Third Reich medals directly from the manufacturer (in opposition to the standard we can't sell those answer).
I bought THREE Knight's Crosses with ribbons. The ribbons were definately from the war era and were full length ( he had four ). The Knight's Crosses were marked 800 and were of such quality and workmanship that, while I sold them as post war, I found out that they were sold as originals. The German paid $3.00 each in 1955.
He also had Oakleaves and Oakleaves and Swords, but these were lighter in weight and less quality (better than the 1957 models).
Therefore it is my belief that if you were German and didn't want large quantities they would sell either original old stock, combinations there of, or out right post war produced EK items.
Just as with daggers, many items were continued to be sold and produced in direct violation of the laws by the original manufacturers. If you didn't sell massive quantities and were confident in your customer, items were supplied. Business was business.
I had several experts look at the three Knight's Crosses and the opinion was that they were K&Qs. Mint and up to standard they were probably sold as originals after they left my hands in 1998 ( I believe I got $800.00 each), but can't say. I sold them as post war, as with all the items I got from this German. The ribbons were sold separately.
When you couple this with the three large Schloss Klossheim veteran hits that I was lucky enough to find, the number of unissued Knight's Crosses and left over material is large and of great quality. Unless you get the cross with documentation and/or an Urkunde, it might be new old stock or unissued originals of a period unknown.
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria
In my motel buy travels I ran across a German in the Chicago area who came to the US in the 1950s. He was too young for the war, but was in the HJ and always was a collector of medals. IN the early 1950s after arriving in the states he contacted various medal producers in Germany and bought many Third Reich medals directly from the manufacturer (in opposition to the standard we can't sell those answer).
I bought THREE Knight's Crosses with ribbons. The ribbons were definately from the war era and were full length ( he had four ). The Knight's Crosses were marked 800 and were of such quality and workmanship that, while I sold them as post war, I found out that they were sold as originals. The German paid $3.00 each in 1955.
He also had Oakleaves and Oakleaves and Swords, but these were lighter in weight and less quality (better than the 1957 models).
Therefore it is my belief that if you were German and didn't want large quantities they would sell either original old stock, combinations there of, or out right post war produced EK items.
Just as with daggers, many items were continued to be sold and produced in direct violation of the laws by the original manufacturers. If you didn't sell massive quantities and were confident in your customer, items were supplied. Business was business.
I had several experts look at the three Knight's Crosses and the opinion was that they were K&Qs. Mint and up to standard they were probably sold as originals after they left my hands in 1998 ( I believe I got $800.00 each), but can't say. I sold them as post war, as with all the items I got from this German. The ribbons were sold separately.
When you couple this with the three large Schloss Klossheim veteran hits that I was lucky enough to find, the number of unissued Knight's Crosses and left over material is large and of great quality. Unless you get the cross with documentation and/or an Urkunde, it might be new old stock or unissued originals of a period unknown.
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria
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