RK Opinions?

[Tom Y]

a friend has been offered this RK and has asked my opinion before he lays out a sizeable chunk o' change. Being a hard-core Imperialoid, I figured I'd pick you all's brains on it.
Front
Back
Back of Oak Leaves
Back of Oakleaves, closeup
Closeup of mark
Zoom in on mark
Any comments will be appreciated.

[tom hansen]

Tom- this is a fake. The ring dips into the frame, which is not a good sign. The swaz is a little large and the beading does not compare to that of known makers. Tell your friend to save his cash. He may want to look very closely at other items this seller is offering.


-Thanks for the help on the PLM!

[Dave Kane]

I must give credit where it's due


The fellow who considered buying this set (for re-sale as he is a dealer) took the time to ask questions of an area that he wasn't fully familiar...

A very good move....

[Peter Wiking]

That is sadly a fake. As Tom say the ring dips in the frame. The oakleafs looks bad as well.

Sorry.
Peter

[Laurence Strong]

So any RK with the ring dipping into the frame should be considered a fake? I am not trying to stir the pot, just trying to get confirmation on that statement.


Thanks

[Dietrich Maerz]

Laurence,

yes and no! There are contemporary pictures of a RK's with a dipping ring. No prooven example has shown up yet so the beading pattern and overall appearance is not established.

Therefore, great caution is advised, the more so since early german reproductions also had those dipping rings. Now in this case, paired with other 'nasty' signs one should stay clear.

Dietrich

[Brian S]

The oak leaves are a terrible flat backed lifeless set of hardly finished fakes.

[torstenbel]

thank you for that...and I have decided not to buy the RK...however, the other items the vendor was offering me for sale were (in my opinion) all original, although I did not probe into any further detail on the remaining items, and when I put to him that the RK is a fake, he accepted that and did not push any further. Cheers, Torsten.

[Dave Kane]

Thorsten, welcome!!!

[torstenbel]

Thorsten, welcome!!!

thanks. btw, the vendor told me that the cross and oaks came from the estate of Karl Wanka. Wanka's widow gave the items to his father in the 1980's. He did concede that the items could have been later purchases by him, since he only returned from Russia in 1956 and evrything was likely to have been lost during that time...he also told me that he had Wanka's original certificate for the RK, but that he sold that 2 years ago...possible story I guess, but then I find it strange that anyone buying the certificate would not also have bought the RK to go with it...???..anyhow, don't matter now...Cheers, Torsten

[Dave Kane]

Thorsten, you may have more information than I but the 'story' seems a bit backward.


In a very general way of speaking I have found that the medals etc. have been the first to go BUT to get the documents from those old German families would be like pulling teeth.....