1957 Gold Cross Good or Repo

[easterneagle87]

Seller has this '57 German Cross in Gold for $400. I read that, like EVERY German award, has been heavily faked. Just wanted to know if it's good or should be left on the shelf. 

 

[Mr.Jerry]

I am no expert on the '57's. But the use of the "L/21" maker mark seems odd to me, and overall it seems a little "soft" in the details, and with what looks to me to be artificial aging.

 

L/21 would be Foerster & Barth  Pforzheim Tunnelstr. 71  maybe see if they continued to exist after the war.

 

The LDO, (Leistungs Gemeinschaft der Deutscher Ordenshersteller, Administration of German orders Manufacturers), was a self-governing organization formed in 1941 which regulated the manufacturing of all German awards. This organization and its members, through decrees which came directly from the Fuhrer’s office, tightly supervised the dimensions, materials and construction methods used to create the medals that would decorate Germany’s soldiers. It was also an information source, and construction methods were discussed and shared among firms. All members of this organization were issued a number, an “LDO number” or Prasidialkanzlei (Arabic) number , which was supposed to be stamped on all awards produced by these firms. In reality this particular regulation was not tightly enforced, and a great number of awards were produced with no mark all. It has been stated that the numbers that identified the firms changed on a regular basis, when, in reality, this was not the case. Some firms do have two numbers, one which is prefixed by an “L” and a Prasidialkanzlei one, but these did not change during the war. One explanation put forth for this is that the “L” prefixed to a number was used for privately purchased pieces, where the Prasidialkanzlei number was used for award pieces. (from WAF)