Azad Hind 1st Class Neck Cross

[Alex W.]

Hey everyone,

in addition to the 2nd class star that I posted previously, here now is my 1st class neck cross. Even though it's post war produced, it's a rare to find award. The quality of the enmalling is wonderful. The backplate is the blank variant vs. the one with the Souval name on it. If this is indeed a sign of being produced after 1961 - I don't know. It might be that Souval simply ran out of the old plates at some point. To me as a collector of these early Souval products it's not that important though if pre 1961 or not.

Regards,
Alex

[Alex W.]

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[chrisje110]

Wonderfull award ! Really nice workmanship on these !

[RonR]

Alex,

That is a beauty!

Thanks for letting us take a look!

Best regards,

[peterm]

Alex,

That is a beauty!

Thanks for letting us take a look!

Best regards,

My opinion too!

Kind regards, Peter

[Bob Hritz]

This is definitely a post 1961 piece created for collectors. The case is not correct for this order.

They are beautiful pieces and, even though I collect only the marked type, they do have a special place for collectors. After the disbanding of the Free India Committee, Firma Souval began to sell these unmarked pieces to collectors. Prior to 1961, they were not available from Souval, except for orders from the Free India Committee. The contract to produce these was exclusive to the Free India Committee. Herr Umlauff, the Managing Director of Souval told me, in a letter, that there was very little call for these awards after the war. He kept the parts in Stock and they were assembled only if ordered. After 1961, Souval no longer used the firms name plate on reverse to comply with the original contract.

Today, in India, there are still statues of Chandra Bose, leader of the Free India Movement.

Bob Hritz