25 year Luftwaffe service cross

[Jean-Claude]

I recently purchased this Luftwaffe 25 year cross as a "bar removed piece". It comes from a reliable source and I've also bought a number of these over the years as single Weimar period veteran "vanity" awards that were banned during the TR period and removed from medal bars or left over singles from bar upgrades so I had no reason for concern but...
Judging from recent threads, there seems to be a rash of questionable Wehrmacht long service awards at the moment so I just wanted to check if this one is OK. From what I've read in old threads there are a number of design/die variations of this cross floatiing around and magnetic versions are considered "safer" but some non-magnetic types (which this one is ) are also accepted as period so any help would be most appreciated

Best regards

JC

[bytown]

The cross is a good one.

I have both magnetic and non magnetic in my collection.

It's just that people prefer the iron version.

The one you show in this thread I have a magnetic version of it.

So the makers of these crosses produced both types. I can't say for sure they all did.

Wayne

[Thomas Bendixen]

I agree fully with Wayne, nice original cross

Cheers Thomas

[tranchant]

25

hello
idem i LIKE it!
best regards
patrick

[Jean-Claude]

The cross is a good one.

I have both magnetic and non magnetic in my collection.

It's just that people prefer the iron version.

The one you show in this thread I have a magnetic version of it.

So the makers of these crosses produced both types. I can't say for sure they all did.

Wayne

Thank you very much for your feedback Wayne: much appreciated! So this variant exists in both magnetic and non magnetic versions? Interesting...

You often see pieces coming from the same die in different metals in a progression related to metal restrictions dictated by the fortunes of war (eg nickel-silver, aluminum or tombac, zink, kriegsmetall) but in this case do you have any indication which type came first? For example do magnetic crosses consistantly look to be better die strikes than their tombac counterparts or is one type found on earlier medal bars than the other?

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards

JC

[Jean-Claude]

Thank you very much for your confirmation Thomas & merci beaucoup Patrick!

Best

JC

[bytown]

Thank you very much for your feedback Wayne: much appreciated! So this variant exists in both magnetic and non magnetic versions? Interesting...

You often see pieces coming from the same die in different metals in a progression related to metal restrictions dictated by the fortunes of war (eg nickel-silver, aluminum or tombac, zink, kriegsmetall) but in this case do you have any indication which type came first? For example do magnetic crosses consistantly look to be better die strikes than their tombac counterparts or is one type found on earlier medal bars than the other?

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards

JC

No idea of the time frame for the various medal metal's.

Awarding of LS stopped in 1940. One member here has an award document dated October 1940. I'm going to guess here and figure maybe there were awards until the end of December 1940. No proof of this but you would think they would go to the end of the year.

I've got examples that are magnetic, non magnetic, even 2 25yr crosses in Kriegsmetall.

I would think replacements were available like other awards as the war dragged on. Who knows what you would get for metal in these awards.

I think the majority of the awards I have are magnetic. Although I know there are non magnetic in there. I'd have to drag everything out and check them. Maybe this winter.

Wayne

[Jean-Claude]

Thanks for the additional insight Wayne and dont trouble yourself dragging everything out to check it on my account. I just thought the info I was looking for was already known

Take care
JC

[luftkrieg]

I agree- an original cross, but a shame it has been removed from its medal bar.

Kind regards
Pierce

[Jean-Claude]

I agree- an original cross, but a shame it has been removed from its medal bar.

Kind regards
Pierce

Hi Pierce,

I agree, one has to wonder what could have motivated taking a (probably) nice medal bar apart like that but then again the full medal bar would have probably been out of my league anyway so I'm very happy to have found one...

Since the components (medal, eagle, ribbon) are all in good shape I'll try to remount it as a single which will fit right in with my small single mount collection if I can find find the correct style back plate. I know that technically a 25 year single doesnt make much sens but for some reason you sometime see very nice single Wehrmacht long service awards that look to have been made that way (manufacturer, salesman, retailer or tailor diplay/sample ?)

Take care

JC