# WW2 German Iron cross



## Sir.Bottles (Jun 10, 2010)

Marked 44[]
 any comment?


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

Looks like it came right out of the bag...
 WWII Nazi everything is highly collectible (in the US.  In Germany, it's all serplus stuff like our old GI stuff is to us), so they are highly reproduced as well.  I'm no expert, but I do know a few things about a few things.  But looking at it, it looks brand new.  No wear, creases, fading.  Looks like it was made yesterday.  Any makers marks on the back?  If anything is in English, it's a repo.

 And does that say 1959?  That's post war (obviously)  I don't know if they used these designs after the fall of the party, but there were 2 distinct designs in militaria between the east and west after the split.  Some were just updated from the war era designs.


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

I will have to do some digging, but I though they were forbidden to use the swastika after war's end.  Having it on a piece of a '59 date just seems very odd.


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

a few things I have found.

 Here is a pic of the Iron Cross 2nd Class (c/o Wikipedia)






 Here is a short history

http://www.worldwar2aces.com/iron-cross.htm

 Sense yours had 1959 and not 1939, I would say it's a repo.  All Nazi symbolism was banned after the war in many countries.


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## privvydigger (Jun 10, 2010)

lots of repros in the 50s i'm told


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## bottle_head9 (Jun 10, 2010)

Stephen, His medal is identical to yours.His says 1939 also.


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

Hmmm...with the way the shadows are looked lik '59 to me, which looked real odd.  Would have been a very poor repo with that kind of mistake.

 In that case....more research would have to be made on any stampings on the back.
 Look closely to the one I posted (if this is indeed an original...cant tell what is correct on Wiki these days) How it's molded and colored and all that.


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

From a site that sold one had an image of the back.  1813 is on the back.  Another site, selling a repo, says the date was 1839 stamp on back for the  year Fredrick the Great created the medal.  I dont know if that is a typo on their part or what. But this image is the only one I can find of a real one from the back.


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

I don't know if this is a fool proof way to test this...while reading how these were made in the day, they did have a core of iron.  So a magnet would attract it.  In fact the original design in 1813 was silver over iron, but they had a hard time getting them to solder together.  So materials were changed, but the iron is still the core material (from what I gather)


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## bostaurus (Jun 10, 2010)

Yeah, the collectors always carry a small magnet with them.  A friend that collects German stuff told us some of the ways to tell the real ones but I don't really remember.  he says there are a lot of repros out there.
 The Iron Cross was no longer used after the war.  Recently it has been reinstated.  Since the ban the German Army had no medal for valor.  There was a good deal of debate on whether or not to bring back the Iron Cross or make something new.  It was decided to bring the Iron Cross back as it had a long history before the Nazis.

 My son tell me that looking from the side you should be able to see layers of metal.  The early WWII were high quality and shaped like WWI Iron Crosses.  As the war progressed they became cheaper and less refined.  he is looking for his WWI Iron Cross so I can post a picture of it for comparision.


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## bostaurus (Jun 10, 2010)

Here you go.  this is WWI.  I don't know that it will be really of much help.
 The ribbon with yours does look new but it is pretty common for the ribbons to be replaced.  You can see that my son's ribbons are intact but ratty.


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## bostaurus (Jun 10, 2010)

Here is the backside.


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## Poison_Us (Jun 10, 2010)

Here is a site full of pictures of past designs and some info

 http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-medals/iron_cross.htm

 A very nicely written history from the beginning (learning a lot on this little quest)

 http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/iron_cross/history/history.htm


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## Sir.Bottles (Jul 20, 2010)

Here is some better picture.


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## Sir.Bottles (Jul 20, 2010)

Here is another


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## Sir.Bottles (Jul 20, 2010)

& here's come the mark


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## Poison_Us (Jul 20, 2010)

If it passes the magnet test, then I would call it genuine...
 I dont remember what the mark is, if its mentioned in any of the articles I have linked to this thread...could be the year produced.


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## woodswalker (Jul 22, 2010)

Very cool historical find if it is indeed genuine......


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## Poison_Us (Jul 22, 2010)

Being 1/2 German, I have some odd attraction to WW2 Nazi stuff.  It's weird.  Nothing to do with what they stood for, just an attraction to everything they wore and issued.  Daggers and uniform stuff..  Must confess, the black uniforms of the SS were very sharp.  Hot, but sharp.  Only things I have is a repo patch of the Luftwaffe and an M42 helmet, which I restored.  There is another line of collectibles where I almost got into, but could not afford as the real stuff goes for good money as well.


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## BttleDiggerDrew (Aug 9, 2010)

I am a Militaria guy, If I can I will shed some insight on these Iron cross ribbons/medal..If it is numbered it is real you should get it appraised, because if it is numbered, it was given to a specific person and documented. The value can range from $400-$24k, depending on the overall quality, issuer, issuee, etc. all I can say is get it appraised..


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