Knight's Cross To The War Merit Cross Opinions

[Thomas H]

pic7

[MH184]

I own one of these without swords too, and if I'm not mistaken this is a genuine example !



Please do wait though for the more conversed and experts of the forum to deliberate it though......I may own one, but alas I'm still a novice !



Kr



Marcus

[tom hansen]

I looked at this piece in greater detail. Before there is a general ass kicking from the thought police, I preface this by saying , "I AM NOT AN EXPERT!". However, here is a side by side comparison of this cross compared to another deschler. You can see the lack of the flaw on the "3" and that the oak leaves on the wreath do not match up exactly. This is verified on the other example I have. One cross has provenance- the other not. However, both of them are a match.

[tom hansen]

reverse- Now there is a "light" (of which the cross I posted is an example of) and a heavier deschler RK KVK, which is presumed an earlier make. I cannot find detailed examples of the wreath with which to compare from the photos on this site. It is quite possible it matches the heavier, presumed earlier RK KVK, but it does not match the later example. Look at the details of the oakleaves side by side and you can see they are clearly different.

[tom hansen]

Now here is a comparison with the cross posted and an old post of a cross of Gordon Williamson. He noted this was a heavier, 43.3 gram cross, which is presumed earlier. Here are the comparisons

[tom hansen]

reverse

[tom hansen]

woops- lets do that one again

[tom hansen]

and here is an image from Chris Jenkins earlier cross compared to this one

[Wade]

I located some pictures that were posted on 5-21-2003 by Neil Howes , postings #26 thru #29. It shows nice close ups of a Deschler Without swords cross. That wreath looks more like the one I have. Are the dies the same for both crosses with and without swords? In the Howes pics I don't see the die flaw at the number 3.

[tom hansen]

It appears to be a much better match for the earlier crosses, like those of Chris and Gordon. The quality of the photos are not identical, but they are very close. There is the difference of no identical flaw in the "3" of the cross posted compared to Gordon and Chris. The "1" in the "1939" appears slighltly different. All in all, a pretty good match. I will check out the other cross and see if I can compare that one as well.


I think this brings up an interesting discussion of early vs late RK KVKs, as clearly they have entirely different wreaths. It is too bad that Gordon no longer visits the site, as his input on this, given he is releasing the book on RK KVKs soon, would be valuable. This has not been discussed before, only in reference to the differences in weight, but not the marked difference in the wreaths.


Those pieces with and without swords are identical with the exception of the swords, so a comparison of the wreaths is valid.

[tom hansen]

Here is another comparison to a piece from that thread. Again, too bad that there is not much interest in this, as this clearly shows two markedly different, yet consistent wreaths between the early, heavier pieces, and the later, lighter pieces. There seems to be more detail in the earlier pieces in the oak leaves.

[George Stimson]

Well, here's mine.

[George Stimson]

Reverse.

[George Stimson]

Silver content and maker marks.

[tom hansen]

And here is your wreath compared to the one posted