monte cassino cross

**jwp** · 06-25-2013, 11:08 PM

hello,
new member here !, I am interested in military and family history ( grandfather fought on the western front ww1 and father fought in n.africa and Italy in ww2) I usually collect small items,badges,medals etc, relevant to campaigns my family members took part in.
a cheeky first post but thought this looked a good place to get help !, last week I picked up a monte casino cross at a local antique fair,(first time I had seen one) the chap selling it normally deals in coins and stamps and has been there many years, he said it came in a box of mixed coins he bought at an auction, as my father was at monte casino with the british 78th division I was very interested. the price was good so I took the plunge, I checked out several online sites about crosses as I assumed it to be a copy but it does seem quite good, one site mentioned several numbers which are known fakes, mine is number 40854 which was not amongst them but the site was a couple of years old so it may be now, just wondered if anyone could update me on the copy numbers ?, from my searching this number looks to have been allocated to the 2nd corps signals but I could not find a list of names online to link it to.
many thanks in anticipation,
kind regards,
john.

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 06-26-2013, 06:09 AM

Hello John, and welcome aboard.

The copies I’ve become familiar with use two different number fonts. One series replicates the font found on genuine crosses and these are relatively well made. The one’s I know are 12397, 36430, and 39961. There may be more. These serial numbers are cast in when the cross is produced rather than being stamped in as with original crosses.

There’s also a run of fakes that have manually stamped numbers, and these are numbered randomly.

Here’s one of these manually numbered fakes stacked up against a genuine example. The fake is thicker clumsier cross on the bottom.

And here’s a reverse view of a genuine cross on issue ribbon. Genuine crosses have a faint scribe line just below the serial number, which you can just discern in this picture. Also, in contrast to the copies you will not be able to bend a genuine cross with finger pressure alone. Try that with a copy and you’ll easily break the arms where they meet the center.

Fellow moderator Andrzejku has the distribution list and will hopefully chime in with the name of the original owner of your cross. Lastly, please try to post a picture if possible.

Cheers,
Tony

**jwp** · 06-26-2013, 06:48 AM

hello tony, many thanks indeed for your helpful reply, the good news so far is my cross seems quite solid and I can discern faint scribe lines under the number !, will try to do the photos over the weekend when not working !, many thanks again,
john.

**andrzejku98** · 06-26-2013, 10:29 AM

Hi John,

Welcome to the forum, in reply to your request for information on the recipient of the Polish Monte Cassino Cross Numbered: 40854, I have found the following information for you.

Rank: Szer (Private)

Surname: PRZYCHODNY

Christian Name: Jozef

Date of Birth: 1924

Army Number (also found on his ID Tags): 1924-83-III

Unit: z 11 Baon Lascznosci (11th Signals Battalion, 2nd Corps)

Unfortunately that was all that I could find on Jozef, I also checked the following with no joy, The London Gazette, Find My Past, Index of victims of soviet repression. Plus I also checked to see if he had been killed in action after Monte Cassino also with no luck.

Best wishes

Andrzejku

**jwp** · 06-26-2013, 07:41 PM

andrzejku,
many thanks indeed for your kindness in providing me with the recipients details, it is very much appreciated. will do some photos over the weekend and post here, once again many thanks indeed,
kind regards and best wishes,
john.