I recently came across this small lot for sale and wanted to know about its authenticity. The Iron Cross is from 1870 and has a strange backside that I have never seen before. I also have no idea about the pilots badge, and the armband looks almost too new but is multi piece construction. There is also a railway eagle that I am sure is a fake but want to make sure I’m not wrong. These are the pictures I have currently and if more are need I can acquire more. Thanks for any help provided.

IMO - I would need to see better pics of all of it.

armband probably real, should be tagged inside.

pilot badge, maybe - need to see the back

1870 EK they had attachments like that - even into WWI but the front is so crude-  needs further research

RR eagle- more than likely bad

Thanks I have asked for more pictures.

Here are 2 EKs for sale. They are the same one and appear to be the same as the one you posted.

Railroad eagles were usually broken off or sawed off the train damaging the threaded posts on the back. From the pictures the threaded posts look smoothed over which tells me that when the eagle was cast the threaded posts were not included. This is not how they were made.

 

Here is the back of a real one posted on WAF

 

 

 

Thanks I have asked for more pictures.

The pilot badge looks good.

 

Here is an original posted on WAF.

 

 

On 8/8/2023 at 9:08 AM, Preppy Picker said:

Here are 2 EKs for sale. They are the same one and appear to be the same as the one you posted.

Railroad eagles were usually broken off or sawed off the train damaging the threaded posts on the back. From the pictures the threaded posts look smoothed over which tells me that when the eagle was cast the threaded posts were not included. This is not how they were made.

 

Here is the back of a real one posted on WAF

 

 

 

Here is a way to tell if an iron cross is a 3 piece construction. Get a piece of printer paper and try to stick it under the silver frame. Or you could use a magnet to test if the core is iron.