Iron Cross 1st class, unmarked (Junker?)

[Jan Heemels]

Hi guys,

I just bought this nice Iron Cross. It isn't marked, so I don't know which maker. Does anyone has any idea about the maker of it? Thanks

[streptile]

Hi Jan,

Unfortunately this one is a fake.

[Jan Heemels]

Are you really sure it is? I'm new in these Iron Crosses and really aware of fakes, I really thought this was a good one. Can you describe the specific signs that this one is fake?

[streptile]

Hi Jan,

If you're new to EKs, the best idea is to post photos of your prospective purchases here on the forum for review before buying. The fakes have gotten so good that it can be difficult for a newcomer to differentiate them. Even someone with months of study can still have a hard time.

Yours is wrong is all the major areas (frame, core, hardware) but the easiest to see, at first, is the pin. There is no original EK with this pin. You can see a nice collection of original EK pins here.

If you look closer at the core you can also see it's not found in any originals, with the oddly elongated "1" (which only CF Zimmermanns really have to this degree).

Finally, the frame design is also wrong -- but frame-spotting can take a while to really understand because your eye only trains to different frame shapes and beading patterns after a very long time of staring at Iron Crosses

The aging on yours is very good, I will say.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to a new EK collector.

[Jan Heemels]

Thank you very much for your explanation, I really appreciate the help and I'm sure I'm even more aware right now. The problem was, that I found the thing on a market in Germany so hadn't the opportonity to post it first...