BACKGROUND: On March 10^TH 1813, Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III established the Iron Cross as a temporary award for bestowal during times of war. Originally the Iron Cross was introduced in three grades with a Grand Cross intended for award to Senior Commanders for successfully leading troops in combat and the First and Second classes for award to all ranks for bravery or merit in action. The Iron Crosses were reinstituted by King Wilhelm I on July 19^TH 1870 for award during the Franco-Prussian War and again on August 5^TH 1914, by King Wilhelm II for award during WWI. On September 1^ST 1939 Hitler once more reinstituted the Iron Cross series of awards in the First and Second Classes and established the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. The first class medal was for award to personnel who performed three to five acts of bravery in combat, and had already been awarded the Iron Cross second class. Recipients of an Iron Cross were permitted, with the proper documentation, to privately purchase a jeweler’s copy of the award, at their own expense, if so desired. Due to the prestige of the award personnel who could afford it could opt to buy a jeweler’s copy for everyday wear with the actual award being put away for safe keeping. Of Note: The LDO, Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Ordenshersteller, (Administration of German Medal Manufacturers), began regulating the manufacture of German awards in March 1941 as a quality control agent for awards that were intended for retail sale and manufacturers were to use an assigned LDO, "L", code on their products destined for retail sales. Awards that were to be bestowed by the government were also issued an official numerical government contract code known as a, Lieferantnummer, (Contractors Number), that was issued by the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers, (Presidential Council of the Führers), for formally approved manufacturers. The manufacturing firms that were licenced by both the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers and the LDO and would have used the same dies to stamp both the official issue and retail sales types of awards making them virtually indistinguishable from one another except for the markings.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1939 pattern, private purchase, die struck, three piece, iron and nickel/silver plated alloy construction Pattée style cross with a single piece iron core and a two piece alloy frame. The obverse of the award features an embossed, central, canted, swastika with the re-institution date, "1939", to the bottom arm. The swastika stands out in nice, high relief while the date is somewhat lower. The magnetic center retains about 90% of its black wash with some raised "spider-webbing" and a couple of small spots of light to moderate surface spotting. The black finish appears as if it may have been touched up.(?). The nickel/silver plated alloy frame shows light age tarnish. The plain reverse has a solid, soldered block type hinge, a broad, tapering, vertical "Coke " bottle, pin and a heavy soldered catch all intact. The pin is well marked with the stamped manufacturer’s LDO code, "L/13", indicating manufacture by Paul Meybauer of Berlin. The cross comes housed in a roughly, 2 3/4" square, 3/4" thick, wood and pressed cardboard construction issue case with a simulated, black leather covering with subtly rounded corners. The top of the case has an impressed, silvered outline of an Iron Cross to the center. The fold back top lid has a magnetic, staggered, bar hinge to the reverse and a magnetic, spring loaded, closure button to the obverse. Both the hinge and the closure button still function. The interior of the top lid is lined in white satin while the interior bottom of the case has a white flock lining with a vertical cut-out to secure the hinge, pin and catch assembly of the badge. The case is in overall very good condition with minimal chafe wear to the exterior and minor yellowing to the interior linings.

GRADE ***1/2                             PRICE $698.00