The Kriegsverdienstkreuz Appreciation Thread.

[laurence strong]

The jewel in my crown at this point in time. I had hope to have a RK with swords by the end of summer. However I spent the money on schooling for a career change....next year.

RK KvK ohne Schwerten

[laurence strong]

Some 57 issues:

KvK 2 w/ swords

[laurence strong]

KvK 1 w/o swords

[laurence strong]

And a salty RK KvK ohne Schwerten

[oradour]

Hi William, Were these early post war examples made up for the "trophy" trade from existing parts? Cheers Dave

Dave....Souval continued to make these awards, primarily I believe as a way to survive the early post war years as souvenirs to Allied forces personal, old Rudolph quickly realised that the occupying soldiers (especially Americans) had a lust for anything with a swastika thereon ! and so, most, if not all, and some more, of his wartime inventory were re struck, in the early days mostly with wartime dies and parts.....Souval continued making such awards with and with out the swastika up to the mid 1960's, copies for the collector and Austrian veterans alike...including the so called "blank core" EK's (I show both first & second class).
As time went on and wartime parts got used up new parts were made or sourced...it is believed that St u L supplied a lot of fastener assemblies to Souval (hinge blocks,pins,catches) .....also dubious construction is evident on some early awards, such as animal glue being used instead of solder !
Even so...these Souval repros are now it seems, becoming collectable in their own right.
Laurence..excellent collection I especially like the 57er awards !
Prost ! Steve.

[john1231]

Well, I'll throw in -3 pieces unmarkerd , one mm 127 , L11 and poor condition 65

[Adrian]

Nice KVKs all!

Especially good to see a genuine Deschler RK posted by Laurence. Thank you for sharing it.

[all1knew]

Hi William,
Were these early post war examples made up for the "trophy" trade from existing parts?
Cheers
Dave

I can only echo the comments in the reply from user Oradour, as he was spot-on. If you compare postwar S&L produced items and postwar Souval produced items you can definitely see a similarity in reverse hardware.

William Kramer

[Thanatos]

Thank you Steve and William for the info.Much appreciated.
Cheers gent's
Dave

[oradour]

Gents, just received this nice 57er "Deumer" KVK II mit Schwerten, my first Deumer KVK, the easy way to spot a Deumer fromn a St u L is the slope of the "9's" in the "1939", on a Deumer they slope at the same angle on a St u L they slope at different angles......
Prost ! Steve.