Virtuti Militari

[feniks302]

I need some help with a VIRTUTI MILITARI cross. Is this VM original? If it is, who was the maker?

[3mk]

Looks original in my opinion, not sure about the maker though

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hello feniks302,

This is a pre-war Krupski & Matulewicz pattern. The cross appears genuine, although suspended from a replacement ribbon. The firm of Krupski & Matulewicz produced the serial numbered 'government issue' crosses. This, of course, is not one of those issues. The Krupski & Matulewicz dies were supposedly used by other makers, such as the example posted below bearing the WG mark of the well known Wiktor Gontarczyk camp. This cross does appear very much to be a Krupski & Matulewicz pattern. Unfortunately, very little information has survived about the admittedly strange practice of die swapping, if it did indeed occur.

Regards,
Tony