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Everything supposedly fake but old fakes maby .EK2 non magnetic one piece, is this cross fake and what gives it away?

Pictured from my kriegsmarine collection is an emblem and a badge used by the Ubootwaffe as tradition cap insignia. The emblem for the National Socialist League of the Reich foe Physical Fitness( left) was worn as an U-Boat cap insignia by the crew of U-274, as was the Edelweiss gap device of the German Army Mountain Troops (right) by the crew of U-124. Examples of the these tradition badges are on page 77, page 81, and page 83 of 'Torpedo Los! THE FASCINATING WORLD OF U-BOAT COLLECTIBLES' by Gordon Williamson. Pictured from my collection is a U-Boat tradition cap insignia 'Swordfish spearing an enemy sip' for the U-441 being worn by its Commander, Klaus Hartmann (white cap). All 51 hands, including Hartmann, died when U-441 was sunk by Allied depth-charges on 30 June 1944.

Here is my new acquired WW1 Italian Benaglia Rifle Grenade. It is in overall very good condition with small areas of pitting on the main body. This was a rodded rifle grenade used with the M91 Carcano rifle. This is the 2nd model with only one filling hole and stabilizing fins. The range of this was about 130 meters (427 ft) and could be used in both the regular length and carbine Carcano's.

Thoughts on this medal please

I think I would leave that one.

Hello, does anyone have an opinion on the authenticity of this Iron Cross? It's a 1st class Rudolf Souval.

Progress is being made in the restoration of the Heinkel at Hawkinge - https://www.kbobm.org/heinkel_project.html

Pictured from my kriegsmarine collection is the emblem of the 1936 Olympics rings (top left) that was worn as an U-Boat tradition cap insignia by several crews, including U-165 and U-995. Also pictured is the insignia for the 9th U-Boat Flotilla 'Laughing Sawfish' (bottom right). Examples of the these tradition badges are on page 64, page 77, and page 83 of 'Torpedo Los! THE FASCINATING WORLD OF U-BOAT COLLECTIBLES' by Gordon Williamson.

Here is a WW1 Era Italian Vetterli Rifle or Italian Fucile 1870/87/15. Many Nations during WW1 pulled obsolete weapons from storage for use to free up more modern weapons to cover the substantial losses at the front, Italy was no exception. The Italians decided to streamline their logistics by converting the Vetterli 10.4mm rifles to the same ammunition that the Carcano used. The modifications were not too complex and by using these newly modified rifles for rear units, guards, etc. the Italians freed up a lot of the more modern M91 Carcano rifles. This is a very large gun, at 53 inches and weighing just over 10 pounds. It had an internal magazine in which 6 rounds could be stored and used the Carcano 6.5 x 52mm cartridge. During WW1, around 1.3 million of the M1870/87 models were in storage, with many of these being given to the Russians, who were in desperate need of any weapons available. 400,000 remaining rifles were converted to fire the 6.5 mm Carcano cartridge such as this example. Like many other European nations that had colonies, these weapons made their way after WW1 into the hands of native & colonial soldiers to help police their respective empires and were seen in many conflicts including WW2. Barrel is stamped Torino, and dated 1889. It also has an accuracy stamp and a Savoy Crest on the right side of the barrel. The Bayonet is an arsenal shortened version of the M1870 Bayonet; it is stamped TA for Torre Annunziata. Non-Import Marked as well.

Copy

here are backs. What about the badge. Its heavy, could be bronze but seems darker than originals i looked at?

lack of detail and the fact it is one piece, there are one piece Iron crosses but this is not one of them.

This one looks OK

Photos taken at Tverrdalen in 2006 2./I./KG 26 (Löwengeschwader) 1H+FK WNr.3158 29.05 1940 The aircraft in which Walter Neusüß was

they are pretty rusty.

XCVU, as Fritz said you might have to fiddle with the repro strap fittings to get them to work. Are the lugs clean and free of rust or corrosion?

original

So what do you think, Fritz? I've followed this thread for a while, and am certainly interested to get your take on the cross above. Does it tick the right boxes for an original?

Thanks Xcvu! Yes, I tested the core and everything and it seems to pass the tests. The core is magnetic, the frame is not, and it does seem to be a multi-piece construction. Not sure how to judge the sharpness of the swastika since it's got some wear to it, and the colour between the chipped swastika and the frame look similar given the tarnishing, but it's difficult to tell. It's tough, I've done lots of research online about these crosses over the years, but I haven't had the chance to handle many that I know are real, so I'm definitely still finding my feet in terms of recognizing all the details and knowing what to look for. It's great to get the input from those who have much more experience with these things.

I'm not a big expert on ww2 ek2's but I don't think there is a big difference between these and their ww1 counterparts. Try checking if the core is magnetic it should stick and then try checking the silver frame it shouldn't be as reactive as the core and you can feel the difference. Also the swastika's edges should be sharp and not dull. On your cross you can see that the color of swastika faded in some points try to compare the color of those points to the one of the frame they shouldn't be the same as it would indicate a one piece construction. While for the markings I did some research and they could be hallmarked just as their ek1 counterparts which may differ from a manufacture to another. Also try to slide a thin piece of paper between the frame and core it should slide in between. Hope this helps you.

I also have an EK2 with markings on the smaller ring. It's a 1939 version, so I don't know if it would be the same story as the earlier crosses, but it seems like some makers did add additional markings to the smaller ring. I'll post some pictures below. Depending on how it catches the light, the mark on the smaller ring looks like either a fragment of an X, a kind of misshapen M, or some kind of ohm symbol, but like I said it's extremely hard to make out. I posted it to another forum because the makers mark on the main suspension didn't line up with the font of that maker, and I had concerns about its originality...it's stamped "4" which would be for Steinhauer & Lück, but the style of the 4 doesn't look like any of theirs I've seen. The consensus there was that the cross looked original, and might actually be from maker "24" who were apparently known to have mis-struck or faint 2's on some makers marked examples. They also shared some other examples from that maker with additional marks to the smaller ring as well. I would be really interested to get people's opinions on this cross here, but if we agree that this one is original, it would certainly seem like there are genuine examples out there with marks on the smaller rings.

Got it 1 year ago and it looked very interesting . It used to be mounted on a medal bar. Even if it was listed as an original I am still not convinced about it's authenticity .

Picture is a two-piece officer''s visor cover for junior grade from my collection of Kriegsmarine antiques. The cap has a hand-embroidered gilt wire national emblem and, cockade, as well as gold wire piping. This cap belonged to Werner Wendt (1916-1988), Captain of U-765. The U-765 was sunk in the North Atlantic on 6 May 1944 by depth charges on its first war parol. Werner and 10 crewmen survived, 37 dead. Pictured below is the underside view of the visor cap. Pictured below is the two-piece visor cover disassembled. In this configuration, a white or blue cap-covers could be worn. Because I do not like to take this cover apart, I used a photo taken years ago.

Pictured from my collection is a Kriegsmarine sea mine timer marked dnt M 4598.

This is an interesting set of dogtags from a german soldier named Walter (or Walther) Unger. He was born on June 26th 1896 in Saarbrücken. So he would have turned 18 just before the start of ww1. The first dogtag is a model of 1878. It still has the original black and white string and it only shows his name. The second tag is a model 1915. It shows his name, place of birth, date of birth and his unit. It still has most of the original string, but it's not as long as it's supposed to be. It did come with a short piece of thicker string, but I'm not sure if that really belongs with it. Maybe an old repair that came loose again? I think it's really interesting to have these two tags together. The soldier probably kept his old tag when it was supposed to be replaced by the newer one. If anyone has any more information about this person, I'd be glad to hear!

Opinions on this summer tunic eagle- KM or heer?

Could be Kenny with lots of patina.

Looks silver to me

Gold or Silver?

You'll have to file the inside of the strap fitting a bit

Any tips on how to mount a chinstrap on a m16?Got one and it's pretty hard to get the repro strap on it.

I have one marked with an ,,u" in the exact same spot besides mine I've never seen another EK2 marked on the smaller ring.

The maker and batch number do not coincide with this being an SS helmet, Heer and Luftwaffe HKP M42's dominate this series.

Hi Alex, I'm afraid these are copies, the Spanish cross was not enameled or screw backed not official issues anyway, but other than that the quality is just not there.

I would pay the extra and get the one without the broken pin

Can anyone recognise who this Luftwaffe guy is or read the words on the back.It is possible to make out the word 'Fritz' and a strange word which looks like'Afrbrink'(?) Hope someone can help. Andrew.

So the mystery is solved, brink is actually his name or rather Ahrbrink. How would that translate? for the memories, yours Fritz Ahrbrink, 15.2.43 ?

Hi Colin, Hauptfuhrer would be the equivalent to Hauptmann which is a Captain

A SS Hauptscharfuhrer is the rank of the British Coy Sgt-Major, and a SS Hauptsturmfuhrer is that of a Captain. Hope this helps.

Hi Seeker, I have managed to find out what the badge is .It's a private purchaise item made for a member of the Royal Scots or his girlfriend a sweatheart broach type of item.We are not sure whither it is a ring or a napkin ring it may be a bit small for this. And as G says the person on the badge is indeed Pontius Pilot. So you have quite a unique item there ,probably originally owned by a veteran who moved to the US or brought back by a US soldier who would have swapped it with a Tommy. Hope this helps

No Problem! I hope that Hectic means lots of Business! I can wait, no worries.

Allot of good points raised there, always hard to tell what it says because of the old style script looks like Fritz Thassrbrink or Tessbrink, as Greg says as this is Black and white the chap might not even be a pilot kind of looks red to me for flak but really hard to make a judgement with out seeing any more of the picture such as awards etc to clarify whither he is a pilot or not.

Someone may correct me if wrong, very hard to make out the exact insignia... The Collar and Shoulder boards are either denoting a Corporal or a Feldwebel... which is a Warrant Officer. I'm leaning more towards the latter. And yes it is a photograph not a postcard.

Thanks RAF!! The bottom right hand corner is embossed 'Langhans', Don't think he's a famous ace anyway!

Hi Andrew and Welcome to the Forum I believe that it is actually a Photograph not a Postcard. The person however..... If He was not very important Eg just a solider it could take forever to find out who he was. But Someone else here may know who He is. Regards RAF

You All Are Awesome! I've never gotten such speedy responses on a forum, nor such friendliness and willingness to help. It is warming my heart! Thank you in advance for all your assistance. With Kindest Regards from Your Scottish Sister

Thanks Seeker Leave it with me I'll see what I can find out.

Hello and thank you so much for your reply! I know absolutely nothing about this piece. The metal coiled ring on the back is heavy but not gold. A magnet does not stick to any parts of the item. I don't think the front decorative piece is gold either, although it has maintained its gold color at least on the front. My Friend said it looks like it may have been a sliding type of tie for a kerchief? Just guessing. It looks like a Roman Figure, but again, not sure. I have seen one or two badges with this Roman type of figure and "The Royal Scots" beneath, on E-Bay, but the rest of the pieces were nothing like this. As to dimensions: 15 mm from back of ring to front of decorative piece. Assume diameter of ring is about 14 mm. Decorative Piece is about 22 mm high, about 3 cm wide at broadest point. Hope this helps. Thanks again for your time and for the welcome!