Article about: Gentlemen, apologies if some of you think this thread in the wrong section.....Adrian feel free to move the BW sub section if you feel uncomfortable with it here, preliminaries over, here fo
Gentlemen, apologies if some of you think this thread in the wrong section.....Adrian feel free to move the BW sub section if you feel uncomfortable with it here, preliminaries over, here for your disdain or delight..... a post war produced Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oaks & Swords...made sometime in either the late 1940's/50's or 1960's these RK's by Rudolph Souval of Vienna were I believe bought and worn by veterans in defiance of the 1957 regulations, Souval and other makers, Deschler,Deumer, St u L and Assman were usually represented at veterans meetings selling their wares either with or with out the swastika..........Souval products have caused headaches for collectors from 1945 to the present, and are hated and usually seen as fake/repro, they are now becoming collectable in their own right and are IMO as close as you can get to a WW2 produced item, this RK being as close (and my bank account) as I will get to the real thing !
With Souvals "hollow" Oaks and Swords accompanying this piece (he also did solid Oaks/Swords), the cross exhibits typical Souval die stamped construction with its magnetic core with low swastika, and frame hatching, the frames and Oaks and Swords are silver "800" marked, some of these Souval RK's were also marked with the L/58 marking, but not this one. This set is complete with Souval's RK Etui/box, which is slightly bigger in width than the 57er and WW2 versions...... It now resides in my 1957 collection with all my other 57er RK, all eleven of them ! Love it or loath it, comments please
Prost ! Steve.
Interesting thread. I imagine my bank account will also never support my purchase of a RK with oaks and swords. I'm not a serious student of RKs just yet, so I can't say that I feel one way or another about this one, which should not be taken as a negative view.
It is good to see it complete with Souval case and OLS.
However, I believe that the cross itself is a much later production. The heavily flawed frames combined with the non-dipping 3 core (with the circle mark on the obverse 3 o'clock arm) are evidence of this.
Still though, it is a very nice set.
Here are two I have owned in the past - the one on the left (with the oaks) is the same type as yours and the other is an earlier version with dipping three.
Steve I agree with every thing you said,I have always liked Souval's stuff, the good and the bad.a chap I knew also knew Souval and he was told by him that a lot of his very early item were unfinished wartime medals and badges.
Souval RK with Oaks & Swords.........
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by guns ltd
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