War Merit Cross in immaculate condition. Is it authentic??

[Adrian]

im talking about the cross in post 4 i personaly think this one is bad it is very poorly made , the detail is terrable and the swaz is all out of proporsion , no i dont think its the angle of the pic IMHO its a bad one ,cheers ian
and the left arm is all out of prportion to the others

We'll agree to disagree on that one!
I think it's a mid war produced tombak example. There appears to be white residue from something, possibly a cleaning agent in the crevices. The details look fine, lighting in the photo could be better but from these pics, I would call it an original example.

[ian]

i bow to your greater knowlage and experiance , we all learn every day ,
cheers my friend ian

[Adrian Stevenson]

Both look fine to me.

Cheers, Ade.

[jock auld]

We'll agree to disagree on that one!
I think it's a mid war produced tombak example. There appears to be white residue from something, possibly a cleaning agent in the crevices. The details look fine, lighting in the photo could be better but from these pics, I would call it an original example.

I wonder how many good items have been binned because of crap photography and vice -versa for that matter?!

Jock

[Adrian]

i bow to your greater knowlage and experiance , we all learn every day ,
cheers my friend ian

I may not be right Ian and will happily stand corrected if better photos show my observations to be wrong.

I wonder how many good items have been binned because of crap photography and vice -versa for that matter?!

Jock

I don't even want to think about that Jock. Nor do I want to think about the items that have just been thrown away by people clearing relatives possessions, house clearances, by accident, ignorance......etc......etc......
As a side note, there was an incident recently where a genuine K&Q RK was being sold as a repro because the seller had been told as such. Luckily it was spotted and saved. The seller could easily have binned it believing it to be fake........

[ian]

god forbid that anything like that should happen ,BUT is that not what this forum is about , a good debate should result in a difinative answer ??
cheers guys ian

[StuG III]

I think I'm getting too paranoid these days with all these fakes around.
Tom

[Adrian]

I think I'm getting too paranoid these days with all these fakes around.
Tom

Being paranoid could save you money Tom!

[locloc08]

I had the same thought Nick, the numbers just look a bit off although the rest of the detail doesn't look too bad.
Could you please post photos that are straight on and not at an angle?
Tom

Well, here is a close up of the apparently questionable '1939s' on the first two. Does this help?

Thanks for all the input, guys. I'm leaning toward buying the first example I posted. The site I found these on has a lot of merchandise and looks very reputable. I know that's no real indication of the authenticity of these pieces, but the seller has many pieces that include original issue documents, issue envelopes and boxes. If these were fake he would probably know about it, and I don't think he's in the business to dupe you.

[Adrian]

I still don't have any issues with these crosses and would be happy to buy them as original.
I've attached a pic below of a few examples from my collection showing different materials, finishes and details.
The top two are tombak, the middle is brass and the bottom two are zinc. You will notice the differences in details vary widely from the bottom left, the middle and the top two examples.