Hymmen & Co. KVK1X

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi guys,

This is a new one for me! I have never seen a 1939 KVK1X by Hymmen & Co. before today. Looks like a die-forged piece with an integral hinge setup. It also looks like it had an integral catch that broke and was subsequently repaired, perhaps even by the factory. Having never seen one of these before, I was intrigued by it. I had to bring this one home with me today even though these late-war KVKs are somewhat ugly-looking.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Here are some angled views showing the hinge and catch:

[Jamie7d7]

A nice cross Tom.

As far as I'm aware, Hymmen & Co made all of their KvK1 with Swords out of zinc.

I have 3 examples of L/53 and post them here for you to see.

1 is a screwback, the second is with a brass pin and the third is with a "normal" pin and the cross which has a lot of the silver finish remaining.

Best

Jamie

[BMB]

A nice cross Tom.

As far as I'm aware, Hymmen & Co made all of their KvK1 with Swords out of zinc.

Best

Jamie

Hi Jamie!
That's not true and you know that I have one with pinback in tombac with sword which is completely consistent with how one Hymmen cross should look like, and I have tried to explain to you that just for that there is non in any book or just because you haven't seen any before does not mean that there are none, the only thing it proves is that they are very unusual.

Best regards
Martin

[BMB]

Hey Tom!
I like it a nice cross.

Best regards
Martin

[Jamie7d7]

Martin

Correct, I actually forgot about your newest cross, an error on my part. I had simply posted up my 3 zinc examples and forgot.

Best

Jamie

[Stepdale]

Nice cross, Tom. For what it's worth, the KVK DNA site shows only zinc versions with three different types of needles, no tombak or screwback versions. Not saying those don't exist, just giving you one more place to look for examples.
Dale

[Chet Sowersby]

Ugly and Hymenn go hand in hand. All their badges and crosses were sadly lacking in creditable design. Someone in the Hymenn company had a "in" with the higher ups. Then, just as now, it's who you know and who you blow....
Also, I agree with the others who have said this company only produced KvK1s in zinc.

Chet

[BMB]

[QUOTE=Chet Sowersby
Also, I agree with the others who have said this company only produced KvK1s in zinc.

Chet[/QUOTE]

Now you have to give up, how did you come to this conclusion, Is it just because you haven't seen any, or is it because there is non in any book?

I just wrote that I have a cross that matches Hymmns to 100% that is made of tombac.

Best regards
Martin

[Chet Sowersby]

Hello Martin,
I would very much like have my opinion proven incorrect. We are all here to learn are we not? I would love to see the tombac example you speak of.

[Tom Yanacek]

Thank you!

My thanks to all for the comments and especially to Jamie for posting those three, fine examples. As I mentioned previously, I had never seen a KVK1X by Hymmen & Co. so I was thrilled in finding one. It appears, then, that the pinback versions produced by Hymmen and Co. featured an integral hinge, but a separately-applied catch. It also looks to me like the forging dies initially incorporated an integral catch. The catch must have been inherently weak and failed in production runs so the company resorted to applying the catch.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

I would love to see the tombac example you speak of.

Hi Martin,

Yes! Please post some pictures of your tombak version if you can. I would sure love to see it as well.

Best regards,
Tom

[Jamie7d7]

Here are the images of Martins KvK1 by Hymmen. He cannot upload the images so I have done it on his behalf.

Jamie

[BMB]

Thank you very much for the help Jamie, i appreciate it.

Best regards
Martin

[Chet Sowersby]

Martin,
Thank you for putting to rest another misconception among those of us who collect KvK1s. A superb example!

Chet