All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
Greetings,
Here's a recently acquired Knedler Type 2 (small) KW that might be a “mosiądzowany” plated KW. I say "might be" as one cannot rule out the possibility that a prior owner decided to have it plated. The Type 1 was previously discussed in post #163:
The Krogulec catalog lists the smaller plated version under number 5a.a. This one has a lighter colour plating to the cross in post #163. Here it is pictured next to a standard KW:
(click on pic to magnify view)
Regards,
Tony
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
Ladies and Gents, some interesting reading for y’all. Part 1 of a two part article from a recent issue of the Orders & Medals Research Society periodical. This article was authored by a longtime friend and KW connoisseur and posted here with his permission. Part two will be posted once I’ve prepared the images. Please click on each image for a magnified view:
Regards,
Tony
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
Part 2 of Orders & Medals Research Society KW Article posted here - Post # 285:
Cross of Valour (Krzyz Walecznych) - Exile Types
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
Tony, thanks for posting. One thing that struck me is that the article states that SGM Kazimierz Hermanowski fought in the 3rd Brigade of LP and was interned during the Oath Crisis. However, the picture of his awards includes the Kaniow Cross, which was for members of the II Brigade under Haller that were not interned. Something seems fishy to me...
Brandon
Thanks Brandon. Good observation and a worthy question. I’ve yet to let Adrian know that the article is now posted here. He’s a WRF member, so stay tuned for his reply.
Cheers,
Tony
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
With the kind permission of a KW collector based in Poland I am posting this first pattern government issue Knedler from his collection. This is a cross produced from the reverse side stamping die that is known to have failed during the production run. In collectors circles these are often called “Die 1" crosses.
This variant is most easily identified by the 7-segment sword hilt. See post #168 earlier in this thread.
Die 1 vs Die 2:
Yet again we are forced to repeat the familiar refrain to collectors of pre-WW2 Polish militaria: “little to no recorded information exists”. What we do know is that Die 1 was utilized for both government issue (serial numbered) crosses, and also non-serial numbered crosses made for private sale. Based on my observations of early numbered crosses, Die 1 crosses make up the bulk of the first 2000 (number range 3000 – 5000).
The vast majority of the remaining 38,000 large pattern government issue crosses in the first pattern run are from Die 2. I do not know if there was only a single Die 2, or if duplicate dies were also used. I suspect the former for several reasons, one being G. Krogulec’s comments about die deterioration and resultant flaws in the higher numbered range of crosses just before production was switched to the smaller 36mm version of the KW. See post # 133 earlier in this thread.
Die 1 crosses do crop up intermittently in the later number range as evidenced by the cross featured here. I also know of a Die 1 cross numbered in the 18K range. For some unknown reason a small quantity of the Die 1 crosses were stragglers on their way to be manually finished and prepared for issue.
This particular cross is important because it displays strong evidence of the Die 1 deterioration, in particular with the “CZYM” text on the right side right arm of the cross.
Here’s a non-numbered cross displaying die deterioration in the same area, although to a slightly lesser degree:
Interestingly, despite Knedler’s reputation for high quality badges and VM’s he was not averse to allowing the issue of KW’s that fell short of his usual standards. This can be seen here, and also with number error over-stamps, and in the final series of first pattern crosses (post #133).
Regards,
Tony
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
Sold today for 3338PLN = 840USD = 691GBP. Here’s a case where the ribbon is the star of the show and represents a good 80% of the hammer price. The cross is a common Type 1 Knedler government issue. The rare Herse made ribbon is covered earlier in post # 166 of this thread.
Cheers,
Tony
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
Apparently this diploma just sold on Italian eBay. Besides in the Krogulec book, I have not seen one of these before especially up for sale. Given that it was awarded to an Italian colonel, I am suspecting they were given almost exclusively to foreigners. In any case, wish I would have gotten my hands on it!
Cheers,
Brandon
Hi Brandon, thanks for the post . One of the holy grails for KW collectors. Exceptionally rare documents. And this does suggest these were likely issued almost exclusively to foreigners.
Regards,
Tony
All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
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