Postwar Souval Knight's Cross

[SARGE]

This is an interesting German award that does not quite fit in with its German wartime cousins or its postwar military, the Bundeswehr. I am posting this topic here for the lack of clarity of this particular version of the Knight's Cross (RK) itself.

 

Many people think of this particular award, made by this particular Austrian maker, as nothing more than a fake. Some think of it as a postwar made award for Austrian veterans. The Souval Company of Vienna made many German medals and awards during WWII and held a license to do so. However, they never made examples of the Knight's Cross during the war and only produced them after 1945. After the war Souval did make de-nazified versions of the RK without a swastika known as the 1957 awards ('57er awards) for sale to serving German Bundeswehr soldiers, veterans, and collectors. They also made these same RK with a swastika for sale to Austrian Bundesheer soldiers, veterans, and collectors since there was no prohibition in Austrian law against the swastika as there was in Germany. Austrian veterans were free to continue to wear their original awards (with a swastika) in public.

 

Of course, Souval also sold these wartime form awards as reproductions which made their way into the collector market as fakes. So, are they fakes, postwar veteran copies, or something else? They have become collectible so we should know what they look like in order to avoid them or collect them depending upon your point of view.

 

First, is a view of the postwar Souval case for an older version of their RK. This distinctive case is somewhat larger than most wartime RK cases. It is slightly wider than most wartime case but is well made and the medal is fitted nicely in the case.

 

[SARGE]

Here are some closeup views of the Souval RK to show markings, flaws, die strikes, etc. This is a fairly early version of the award made, most probably, in the 1960s.

 

 

[Tony v]

SARGE

 

Great information with superb pictures. Nice to learn some thing new every day.

 

Thank you

 

Tony

[MattS]

What type of value do these typically carry?

[SARGE]

Thanks for the kudos gents.

 

Value is subjective. There is no value to a collector who merely thinks of this particular award as a postwar fake. If someone wants a nicely made 800 silver marked space filler instead of paying thousands of dollars for a wartime original by another maker perhaps $100. I collect some of the 1957 medal versions worn by the Bundeswehr (and veterans) so I value this particular award at around $250. Souval made 57er RK awards without the swastika that I would value a bit higher at around $350. Souval early postwar examples with blank cores (no swastika and/or no oak leaves) at around $500.

 

I hope this helps.

[teamski]

Great thread! Thanks!

 

-Ski

[Brig]

These are highly collectible, though not truly 57ers. But as stated above, the "purists" consider these junk...and many 57 guys don't collect them because they're not true 57ers. There's a small niche market in-between.

 

As stated, they make a great filler rather than paying 10K for something wartime that, let's be honest, isn't really that rare.

[MattS]

I got out of German stuff many years ago, thanks for answering my query. If I saw one of these on a table I wouldn't know if it was worth $100 or $10,000. Guess it's on the lower end of that range.