Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse - Japanese made?

[avenger]

Hello all. Did the Japanese make many EK1's? I found this today, and it certainly looks like it might be an original. But, it's the first I've seen with a Japanese maker mark. I've read they were made for German sailors stationed in Tokyo, but I have no idea how rare or valuable such a thing is. Seller wants $450, which is steep if it were any old EK1.

44mm wide/tall, has magnetic parts, core may be a repaint (not sure)...

Asking for better photos, but for now below is what I have.

Thanks for the help!

[avenger]

What throws me on this one is that it looks similar to the one shown in the Dietrich/Simpson book, but it can't be solid silver if it's magnetic. There seems to be some controversy on if they would be maker marked as well.

The frame is uneven in places...I'm thinking this must be an example of some sort of fake?

[avenger]

More photos:

[5tefan]

Not authentic Japanese made German awards!
There was a special reason why Japanese made German awards!
There was a german ship which needs to be reloaded at the Japanese Harbor.
But it was distroyed and sunk at the Japanese Harbor. For all survival they rebuild the awards.
Therefore they use for this awards, identical pins, which was use for Japanese Awards.

[avenger]

Thanks for that backstory! That's something I haven't found to explain why the Japanese made them.

While concrete info on these seems difficult to find, that's helpful. Many thanks! I was suspect after discovering they were not magnetic, which this one is. It is very similar to the one posted on page two by beuwulf here:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ese+ek1&page=2

In any case, sounds like it's not what we'd look for on one of these. Thanks for the feedback!