ORIGINAL EISERNES KREUZ GERMAN WW1 IRON CROSS 2ND CLASS DAMAGED # 1 (2550)

Description

ORIGINAL GERMAN WW1 IRON CROSS 2ND CLASS
MARKED: UNMARKED DUE TO
MISSING LUG AND RIBBON RING
MAGNETIC CORE 3 PART CONSTRUCTION WITH SILVER FRAME
Information on the Iron Cross Medal:
Emperor Wilhelm II reauthorized the Iron Cross on 5 August 1914, at the start of World War 1. During these three periods, the Iron Cross was an award of the Kingdom of Prussia, although—given Prussia's pre-eminent place in the German Empire formed in 1871—it tended to be treated as a generic German decoration. The 1813, 1870, and 1914 Iron Crosses had three grades:
Iron Cross 2nd Class (
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse
, or EKII)
Iron Cross 1st Class (
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse
, or EKI)
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (
Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes
, often simply
Großkreuz
)
Although the obverse of the medals of each class was identical, the manner in which each was worn differed. The Iron Cross 1st Class employed a pin or screw posts on the back of the medal, and was worn on the left side of the recipient's uniform, like the original 1813 version. The Iron Cross 2nd Class, and the larger Grand Cross, were suspended from different ribbons: the Grand Cross from a neck ribbon, the 2nd Class from a ribbon on the chest. The usual display of the 2nd Class version was as a ribbon through one of the button holes in the recipient's tunic.
The Grand Cross was intended for senior generals of the Prussian or (later) the German Army. An even higher decoration, the Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (also called the
Blücher Star
), was awarded only twice, to
Generalfeldmarchall Gebhard Leberecht Von Blucher
in 1813 and to
Generalfeldmarschall
Paul Von Hindenburg in 1918. A third award was planned for the most successful German general during World War II, but was not made after the defeat of Germany in 1945.
The Iron Cross 1st Class and the Iron Cross 2nd Class were awarded without regard to rank. One had to possess the 2nd Class already in order to receive the 1st Class