please discuss this Fire Brigade Cross

[emilitaria_usmc]

Fire Brigade Cross 2nd Class

on estand - please discuss per one viewer's request

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=263261

[cysior]

Better picture in day light might help. So far I don't like letters - they look really sloppy. And i don't see umlaut's above "U" and "O" So far i saw a lot variations: with ball, with ring, with umlauts/without them, with and without MM, with lot of space around word "loschwesen" etc. But so far i didn't find opinion which one is correct and which is for sure fake.
A week ago i received this one and i'm very happy

[CurtD]

Here's the cross in question

[CurtD]

This is genuine. Notice the difference in the thickness of the swastika and the structure of the flames.

[CurtD]

Check out the crisp letters. Umlauts, dashes, etc.

[Don D.]

I guess the one viewer had a point.

[emilitaria_usmc]

larger photo

I guess he did. The o has an umlaut but there isn't enough room for one above the u. If I was the die forman at this factory I wouldn't waste money striking medals from it. This one is ugly. I am withdrawing it for sale.

[ATTACH]868030[/ATTACH]

[Billy G]

I would respectfully say the letters on the piece in question look too sloppy when compared with a known original. There are also several other subtle differences with the swaz & positioning of the roundel.

[cysior]

CurtD - and now we can clearly see that yours and mine have different fonts. Different design, maker ?

[Carson]

I have also found that when you compare an original to a repro, there is no comparison to the brightness of the colours in the flames. The originals have a bright orange, almost vibrant enamelled flame and the repros just have dark fire engine red.

I was stung by a repro 1st class. Nice to learn abvout the font and lettering too!

[Mauser]

Im not too keen on it , the lettering just seem too crude in comparison to the other crosses showen.

[CurtD]

CurtD - and now we can clearly see that yours and mine have different fonts. Different design, maker ?

And a different sized swastika. I seem to recall that there was a discussion a while back about the thinner swastikas.

Also notice that the thickness of some of the letters on yours varies quite a bit.

It might be a higher quality repro.

[cysior]

Curt - and because of this- it's a reason to call it - possible - quality repro?
Only one maker, one style, one design is correct? All kind of awards have some variations..Why feuerwehr cross should be different?

About "thick" swas -> yours cross has patina on it. Not just swas is black - the egdes on your swas (normally silver) are dark, almost black too. That's why IMHO it gives impresion that swas is much more thick but I bet - it is same size as mine.
I'm not sure but i think i've seen first class, vaulted cross on here with same font used as mine.
ps.
I'll get better shots of the letters over the weekend and i post them here..

[cysior]

again

[cysior]

Today i was at militaria show and I showed my cross to Bill Shea.
Hi said both case and cross looks good, excelent enamel, correct font style etc. He does not see anything suspicious.
I asked also another fire service awards collector for another opinion and he said same thing
Also below is the link to pictures and simmilar discussion. Please check first class cross with same font style.

http://daggers.infopop.cc/eve/forums...3/m/3420061894