Gold Spanish Cross for review.

[Eddie]

Hi guys,

here is Spanish Cross Gold grade for your review,the pin has been stripped from finish for unknown reason,only finish remains where pin connects with the hinge,you can see same aging and finish matching on the hinge and pin.

Thanks in advance for your review.

Eddie

[Eddie]

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[Eddie]

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[Eddie]

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[Eddie]

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[Ludwig]

Strange looking eagles, IMO.

[Brian S]

A very nicely polished Gold Grade SKiG by Otto Schickle (or with Schickle parts). Eagles are polished and not photographing well. Sword hilt and eagle style and catch clear giveaways. The side views show the cross hasn't been upgraded postwar. Nice clear sharp edges to side shots show it's not a cast.

[Sal Williams]

that gold would have come of the heavily buffed eagles. I would bet post war gold finish upgrade

[Rich G]

To me it looks like base metal tombac that has been polished up. Just my opinion.
Rich

[Brian S]

Polished up tombac? You see gold see gold everywhere. That wouldn't be possible in the recesses. But yes, I think the base metal is tombac that was polished down. You see on early gold grade crosses a bit more work than the other grades.

So Sal, how do you suppose it was upgraded? Why what means? Spray paint? What theories do you propose?

Pictures I am seeing that show cross views into the recesses look perfect.

This picture here shows the area below where the disk is attached. Look how the black patina is in the recesses but the gold high areas of the roughness from the die cut shows the gold. Look how consistently and evenly the gold is in all the photos.

Please do respond.

[Brian S]

I like the hint of gold on the edges of the pin which indicates to me it was worn. We learn from examples like this and analysis so I hope this continues.

[Sal Williams]

plating. the obverse looks very polished and eagles and swa are much rounder and less detailed than I would expect. But you are the expert, I am probably just high on gold spray paint fumes

[Brian S]

Sal, isn't fire gilding a form of plating? Looks right to me. Certainly not spray paint. How do we know any Gold SKiG is originally gold then if fire gilded to the correct technique? I don't know everything about SK's or maybe I would have bid 6,000e on that Sedlatzek SK, or maybe I know enough not to...

Tell me what you would look for in a properly fire gilded SKiG?

I am not the final word on what you believe Sal so what would you need to see in a SKiG to believe it is a period Gold and not a Silver or Bronze.

Certainly this one is not Silver 800 or any other content or it would be marked. Underneath we see no silver poking through so it is not a messed with Silver cross. I don't see bronze either so I can only conclude it is tombak and this is the first finish it has ever had.

Also on a period Silver versus a Gold SK wouldn't the details appear more crisp on a silver cross with no layer of gilding than the same cross after applying a fire gild?

[Sal Williams]

My only concern is that the eagles and swa are so rounded and badly defined. It looks to me like they were maybe buffed and then an entire gold plating was applied. I don't know that to be true, but something about that part looks pretty aggressively polished.

[Brian S]

I think the eagles and swaz were buffed. But as I have noted on other crosses the gold grades show a higher degree of workmanship on certainly the earlier crosses as this one would be as it is not marked with an LDO mark or LDO/15 stamp. The eagles are individually stamped as you know and I think buffing out the edges to better present on a cross will take a little detail that when worn on a tunic really doesn't matter. It seems to matter only when looking under magnification of one cross to another to note "the eye seems buffed out..." It just makes sense to me. But I am always open to new views especially on these under-discussed crosses of the Spain War.