Strang eyelet Knight cross

[nick]

Hello

Just saw a strang eyelet on a Knight Cross from Steinhauer & Lück.
Never seen that before.
Is that common?
Greetings
Nick

[nick]

close-up

Close-up

[C.C.Reilly]

Hello Nick,

The eyelet seems to resemble the donut found on the Klein and Quenzer Knights Cross. Interesting.

[Dave Kane]

Detlev's opinion!

This photo was sent to Detlev N. and his opinion was that this is an early (post 1945) S&L back door cross! Yet what is confounding is that the owner says Gordon Williamson says it's original....I really wonder id Gordon has commented on it at all.
John

[Dez H]

Is this on ebay for sale?


Regards

Dez

[Gordon Williamson]

Yes I have seen this one before. The eyelet is simply just not properly voided. Two minutes work with a jewellers rat-tail file would have been all that was needed to finish it off.
This is a very common trait in the early 1957 KCs done from the original tooling, so I can see where Detlev is coming from. However, it has also been noted on a few good originals with provenance.
I was once fortunate enough to own a large grouping including the Knights Cross from Luftwaffe night-fighter ace Rudolf Sigmund. It had this same feature, though not quite as pronounced. I know of two others in European collections with this same feature both of which were obtained direct from the winner.

Interestingly, none of them had the flawed rim.
So, whilst it is something which flags up the need for caution, it is not in itself something which would necessary denote anything wrong with a piece.

[AlikN]

This cross is for sale at germandaggers.com

Cross at GD.com

[Dave Kane]

I think there is more knowledge out there than we know! This cross would have been snapped up at $5k US if not for the ring and I think the lack of 800 stamping. And, it looks like someone was scraping the surface to see if it is silver or not...just look at the pics right under the thick ring. I'll lean toward Detlev's view....a quick buck for some worker at S and L and no questions asked!
As far as the flawed rims go I think that happened after 1945 and prior to the "sale" of the equipment to make the frames which ended up in England with many of these "crosses" in collections today.
John

[bergrenner]

I'm surprised that noone has commented on the black paint on the ribbed portion of the frame. Or is that not paint on it?

[Dave Kane]

It's not paint and in fact it makes the cross even appear credible! It is just natural patina creeping from the silver frame through the frosting...the outer rims don't show it because they have the rhodium applied!
I notice the cross isn't on the site any longer..Too bad as I'd like to know the weight and if it is silver or just plated.

[AlikN]

John the cross is there on GD.com,
On the page "Medals & Decorations" there is a button
"See The Next 'number of' Hits" .
Or you can click here .