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Which one to chose (which ones seem fake or real)?


arathemis

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Hi everyone,

I want to have an Iron Cross in my "all kind of stuff collection" and I`d like to know if the ones I found available on the local market are real or not, and which one makes more sense in acquiring.

(I can also post the prices of the items if you think this will help you guide me towards a decision).

So here goes:

Iron cross 1st class - WW2:

146017280_Iron1-3.png.0c60220b9b5faec1c3f2a4076c52a43a.png

 

538807537_Iron1-2.png.54c9bc8aa8e5f5bb89b094effcec05e8.png

20471811_Iron1-1.png.59aa3b4e579a9fe9a563dc67f285ad3b.png

Iron Cross - WW1 - Option 1:

947017608_Iron3-1.thumb.png.f6ea98702cd9a6661d0517c12406be2c.png487599491_Iron3-2.thumb.png.6f0aede19878bc2be8f81b3a521cd2f3.png2020626774_Iron3-3.thumb.png.9cdb2ddf0ed23a0b32146bdeed1ea4eb.png

Iron Cross - WW1 - Option 2:

1762014409_Iron2-2.png.fd180a9cc49f409994e1208aa7d20322.png13711338_Iron2-1.png.48520e8fcd2ef3e7dd0450d99e425c4e.png

 

WW1 medal bar:

1632843346_bar1.png.a11e7b3a9c5d6e3b04f8276e11d37d3b.png433025075_bar2.png.be9f7e3f58487ac88e73bf58ffbe19a9.png79458590_bar3.png.0872a9912ef3ea6601a0752852f2015e.png588530906_bar4.png.676f4c32f6496b1c8301e091a94bf31c.png

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

Iron 1 - 3.png

Iron 1 - 2.png

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All very nice. The WW2 example with the defaced swastika would only be worthwhile if very cheap. About 50 pounds max would be adequate.

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Thanks Fritz, So none of them are fake?

For example WW1 one, (option 1) seems to have some leaf broken or eaten by rust.


The prices are: in the area of 100-120$ for the WW1 and the WW2 first class. The bar with 4 medals (2 german, 1 hungarian, 1 bulgarian) is about 300$.

Which one would make more sense from a financial PoV?

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All original. The medal bar is made up of fairly common WW1 decorations including the Hungarian and Bugarian version. All not highly priced, I would say 300 is too much. The defaced WW2 iron cross for about 50 would be ok. These were as worn after May 1945. The WW1 iron cross is valued according to condition and maker's mark on ring.

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Thank you Fritz.

The seller of the one with Red background shared some documents/letters that come with it. Aparentrly the cross was found with these docs. I think I`ll pick that one, even if the maker`s stamp is not visible in the photo (it also looks better than the one that has the maker S W).

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42 minutes ago, arathemis said:

Thank you Fritz.

The seller of the one with Red background shared some documents/letters that come with it. Aparentrly the cross was found with these docs. I think I`ll pick that one, even if the maker`s stamp is not visible in the photo (it also looks better than the one that has the maker S W).

That's the right decision IMO. The second WW1 medal is in much better condition than the first. Have you asked the seller if there is a makers mark on the ring? The S-W  (Jereme Sy & Albert Wagner, Berlin) is in poor condition so not worth buying. The WW2 cross .... leave it. Some will want to have an example of a denazified cross in their collection but not worth it if you just want a representative example. The bar - £300 is way too much for a fairly common bar from the 1930s. More like £100-£130.

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Thanks for your points, James.

Yeah, i`m pretty bummed that someone scratched that swastika off, it looks really bad, plus it looses it`s historical character. Otherwise i would have picked that one. It might have been in a different price range though.

Bare in mind that i`m talking about USD as curency, not british pounds (i`m from eastern europe actually, and just converted the price to USD).

Is such a bar that cheap? I mean from that bar, if only the EK2 is about 80£, that would mean the remaining 3 medals are only 20-30£? Which seems really low price for them.

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Iron crosses range from around 45 pounds upwards, depending on maker and condition. The other post-WW1 decorations are common, as stated, and are still quite cheap, a WW1 Ehrenkreuz from around 10 pounds, the Bulgarian and Hungarian medals 15-20 pounds. The Swastikas were erased by order of the Allies at the end of WW2, which was common practice.

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