WWI American Anti-Iron Cross' Propaganda Articles.

[MilitariaOne]

Greetings all,

These articles date from 1918. Their papers' names & dates will appear when you hover your icon over the images.

Njoy,

V/r Lance

Double click images to enlarge.

[AZPhil]

Definitely not the time to have an EK in your possession.

I loved the "bestowed by Kaiser Bill" statement.

Thank you Lance. Very interesting to see the mind set at that time in our country.

Semper Fi
Phil

[Chopperman]

Thanks, Lance. These are really interesting.
It's patriotism and propaganda at it's height. At the same time this was happening in the US,
German is producing hat pins, broaches, picture frames , memorial cards, ect all with the Iron
Cross in support of their brave young men.

Just 10 years later, attitudes have changed. Case in point--
Here is a bobble given out by a Chicago bank to German customers who sent money
home to Germany.

[Chopperman]

The inscription in the bottom of the box says ----
"In Memory of the Great war and your loyalty to the old country"

[Martin C]

Nice piece, Greg!

[Larry C]

Incredible one of a kind item..I have never seen before Greg !..and equally incredible is the one of a kind box included.

Regards Larry

[buellmeister]

Lance,

I thank you as well for posting your articles. Very interesting to say the least.

Greg,

What a beautiful find! I too, was unaware of such items and thank you for sharing it.

Joel

[MilitariaOne]

[QUOTE=Just 10 years later, attitudes have changed. Case in point--
Here is a bobble given out by a Chicago bank to German customers who sent money
home to Germany.[/QUOTE]

Greetings Greg,

A quick question, can you view the date on the box/parcel when the Iron Cross you posted was mailed? I ask, because I wanted to see if I could find an advertisement in the period newspapers where it may have be advertised. The closest source I could find was an odd/cryptic 1915 article posted below.

Double click to enlarge image.



Then I came across this advert (below) where the same company, which provided the Iron Cross was attempting to sell German, Austrian, and Hungarian War Bonds pre-US involvement. Not saying the discussed Iron Cross "must be" of pre-WWI (for the US) origin, but while I did find plenty of post-WWI adverts for the Wollenberger & Co. (they went under in 1933... a bit of an embezzlement's issue) there was nothing indicating these Iron Cross paperweights were being offered then either. My point being, (baring a nice clear post-WWI stamp's cancellation date) I am leaning towards this paperweight being a premium for buying/purchasing these offered pre-US-involvement foreign War Bonds. Yes, all circumstantial evidence, but a plausible theory. Again, if the box/parcel does not have a conclusive date on it. Thoughts?

Double click to enlarge image.



Best,

V/r Lance

P.S. The latter war bond's advert came from here Falvey Memorial Library :: World War I Pro-German Newspapers Published in America a pre-US-involvement pro-German Newspaper called The Fatherland, which was published in the US.

[Chopperman]

Lance,
This piece is from "Wollenberger & Co." It's impossible to make out any date
on the postal cancellation mark. However because the cross has the 1914 date
on it and talks about "in memory of the great war" , this has to be post ww1.

I assume late 20s to 1933. I would think that late teens to early 20s would be
to soon for them to get away with sending out iron crosses because of the anti-German
sentiment like the examples that you posted above.

(I've blocked out the recipients name and address)

[MAP]

To put a rough timeframe, the Washington/Franklin stamp design was made from 1908 to 1922. To me this looks like the Washington A140 3 cent design.

Identifier for US Washington/Franklin Stamps of 1908-1922

That doesn't mean the stamp could not be used post 1922 but it does give you a window.

IMHO, I would place this as early 20's. If these were mailed from a business, I would find it unlikely that they would be using old stocks of stamps into the later half of the 20's.