New to collecting. Brass Core Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse real or fake?

[Willmore]

Hi Erwin,

I really can’t help much with your question, but these links might help you,

Souval Frame Article -

Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

On the subject of fake/reproduction EK1s, I own a Floch. Here is an article on them.

Floch Article: EK - KVK - Clasp -

Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

[rbminis]

I moved your thread, and merged the two.
We are still talking about the same cross, so, no need to start another thread.
Ralph.

[Chrish124]

Ralph makes a good point about the seller. The honesty or good intentions of the seller means nothing in terms of authenticity of an item. Even honest, expert level sellers can occasionally get fooled by a good reproduction and inadvertently sell it to collectors. It seems new collectors often tend to lean on a seller they trust, when they lack the knowledge themselves. Even when I purchase from some of the big online dealers who never seem to list fake stuff, I still look up each item and/or ask on the forum for help, just to be sure. Get reference books, utilize this great forum, but always check each item, don't buy on trust or you will end up with many fakes in your collection, and who wants that.

[Erwin777]

So after looking at probably 1000 pictures of reproductions, analyzing Flochs and speaking to not only the seller, but the man he bought it from, as well as cross referencing all of the input you gentleman have put in, I think this a authentic EK. I don't know if anyone here knows a man by the name of Chris Trimble, but that is where this cross originally came from. The man has 43 years experience in antiques and a few degrees to stand on including a masters in archeology. He even offered to buy the EK from me and insisted if I ever got tired of it to drive straight to VA and sell it to him. This EK does not match any cheap reproduction's I've seen, nor quality ones like Flochs. I have a very hard time believing somebody would go through this great effort to make a 3 piece EK with accurate framing and hardware AND not put a makers mark on it. Just doesn't make any sense financially or from a manufacturer standpoint. The EK is in poor condition which in some opinions makes it "uncollectable" but frankly its nearing a centuries age and I like character. It matches other bronze/zinc core EKs that have sold for nearly $300 on reputable war memorabilia sights both in appearance, weight and hardware. I will continue to try to further verify its authenticity, but it sits next to my Anton Shenkl EK.2 now. I'm not ruling out that this may be a reproduction, with how many fakes there are and all the different makers and styles, who knows..., but I have no doubts in my mind that even at this very moment, I could get my moneys worth back out of it in a heartbeat. Thank you all for your time and posts. The articles linked with very informative and I found some more forums to join and read.

[rbminis]

That's a good thing!
You likely learned a lot from doing a little reading, and research. We do try to promote newer collectors to do some of their own research instead of just coming on to a forum and asking "is this real, and, what's it worth?"
Ralph.