Guide to collecting Iron Cross 1939

[warRelic]

The WW2 Iron Cross, has a Swastika on the centre core and marked 1939, the most copied is the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, with fakes from of a very inferior quality, one piece construction, to the near perfect Knights Cross copy made of a 3x piece construction with silver frames made in Budapest Hungary today, copies are also made in Russia and Poland.

Only about 65% of all WW2 Iron Crosses had a LDO Number stamped either on the suspension ring or in the case of the Knights Cross on the frame, these numbers were given to each maker to keep track of quality control, the other 35% had their LDO Number, either on the Outer Brown Carton of the Presentation Box or on the Paper Bag that the Iron Crosses came in.

The WW2 Iron Cross had an Iron Core, except for some German Navy awarded Iron Crosses with the core changed to a Brass Core simply to prevent the salt in the air rusting the core, awarded mainly to U-Boot crews.

I hope this helps you with collecting. Cheers !

[Emmett]

thanks for educating rookies like me~
one more question, what is the difference between LDO number and PKZ number that adrian told me?

[KMMorris]

From the military reference guide

LDO

THE LDO NUMBER
In 1941 it was decided to create the Administration of German Orders Manufacturers ( deutschen Ordenhersteller), known as the LDO. Its main purpose was to control the production of medals and orders. The LDO was directed by the Fuhrer's Chancellery.

The LDO published regulations which controlled the following:
The dimensions of the award
The materials to be employed in its construction
The manufacturing techniques
The finished to be applied
The RZM was also another organization with a similar mission to the LDO but presided over a different line of products.
Manufacturing companies that produced medals, badges, orders, etc. during WWII were licensed. At that point they were assigned a number (commonly known as the LDO number) and were asked to stamp it on the medal or award during production. In many cases the markings would also be applied to the box or envelope in which the award was issued.
Certain manufacturers had multiple LDO numbers. These firms were fully licensed to produce some items and partially licenced to produced others. Only a couple of companies were given multiple LDO numbers, they are C.E. Juncker and Godet. These two organizations shared the LDO code 12, along with the Frank & Reif company.
The LDO code was usually applied by having the letter "L" followed by a slash "/". The manufacurer's number would follow.

and the Lieferant Number

A second quality control number was also developed. The Präsidialkanzlei des Führers Lieferant (Führer Chancellery Supplier) number. The purpose for this number was the same as the LDO. It is not clear why the manufacturer board created two methods for tracking.
Both organizations published a series of information booklets about the profession recording a wide variety of information which included topics such as awards of new developments and product construction techniques. These organizations were considered to be trade guilds.

Companies that manufactured awards were licensed by the LDO. Every licensee was given a unique number identifier. In some instances, if the company withdrew membership and came back at a later date, the number given to them the second time may differ from that given the first time. Hence the reason for the existance of the "Variant LDO" column shown in the LDO definitions table below.
Unlike the LDO number, the Lieferant number was not preceded by any characters. It was simply a number stamped on the badge or medal. Sometimes the marking was placed on the body of the pin. Other times it was located in the front of the pin.

[Emmett]

thanks for the info morris~

[Adrian]

Hi warRelic,

Thank you for your post, there is quite a bit of misleading information in there though which needs addressing.

[Brett]

Hello warRelic
Your synopsis of the Iron Cross has been lifted word for word from the Ebay guide by elitemilitaria.
As Adrian says, some of this info is misleading as are most of the descriptions by this particular seller

Regards
Brett

[Adrian]

If the information has come from ebay as Brett says, I suggest you don't go there for factual information. There are so many places to obtain real information, one of which is this forum where you can ask members.
Ebay sellers will tell you anything and get away with adding false information on their listings.
If you have a genuine interest to learn about the EK, stay away from ebay and stick to forums like this one.

[KMMorris]

The synopsis if from ebay should probably not be given much attention, If you wish to learn as Adrian has said look around the forum for reference.
Morris

[diver99]

And they probably lifted it from wickipedia...the world's online bad research guide

[Brett]

Hello Morris
As you & I both know, these crooks are not imparting their wisdom & information to experienced collectors, who would
see through it in 2 seconds flat. It is aimed at the newbie, or the person who can't be bothered researching. Pretend that
you are an authority, baffle them with bull****, & reel them in!

Regards
Brett