What can you tell me about this picture?

I just bought an iron cross and it came with this picture. Supposedly its the guy who earned the medal. Can you tell me anything about the picture to help identify him or his occupation/unit?

Other urls found in this thread:

wehrmacht-awards.com/iron_cross/2nd_1st_class/manufacturing/manufacturing.htm
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

and a picture of the iron cross, not sure if it's authentic...

another picture
curious about the "clasp" or whatever the thing is that connects it to the ribbon

I currently live in Japan. I was walking through the halls of an anime infested otaku area, just showing my american friends around. We stopped at one small shop with a quiet old man reading a newspaper.

Most of his wares were anime and famous characters, but I noticed one small case that had all sorts of military stuff. Vietnam patches, an m16, rings from different services.

Then I saw the iron cross. The old man approached me and in broken english told me about it. He said it was original and he got it from one of his German friends.

I ended up buying it for about $175, not sure if it was a good deal or not. So, that's why i'm here.

How much did it cost you? It does look pretty well preserved, new even.

The man asked for roughly $200, but I haggled a bit (Japanese have terrible haggling skills) and he gave me a 10% discount. It does seem quite well preserved aside from some damage to the inner ridging.

Can post more pictures if that would help

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going to bed, will check in morning

thanks in advance for any input

It's been sloppily painted, which makes me lean towards a reproduction.

$5 for old photo + $25 for repro EK = $170 profit.

Thanks for the honest input.

Because the black spills over onto the teeth, it's likely a quick paint job ? There's nothing aging can do to influence that ?

sry bro, it s most certainly fake. the black "core" should be magnetic, made of iron and be separate from the silver framing around. on your picture it looks like a cheap copy, as both parts are connected and the outer frame was painted with silver color.
also the guy on the picture wears a RAD ("Reichsarbeitdienst") uniform. RAD was a compulsary labour organisation where you usually wouldn t see military action.

even if it was legit, it wouldn t be worth 200 $. you can get a iron cross 2nd class for about 50€ in europe.

Also, sometimes where it appears black in the photo it's from missing "teeth".

Not sure if it's a sign of age or poor reproduction .

This is OP btw monitoring on phone in bed

just compare it with an original. you'll see the difference. notice how core and framing are two separate parts.

Oh , I see.

So the "iron cross" and it's ridges should be a seperate piece from the frame. I guess I got burned on this one, but I'll take it Back and try to explain.

Anything else I should know ?

Thank you guys

yes. the core should be made of pure iron and thus be magnetic and the the ridged area around should be made of silver and at least have a slight patina, no matter how well preserved. iron crosses don t have any form of paint on them. maybe he'll accept it as proof.
also the iron cross should have a ring like in my pic, and stamped on the ring should be a letter which identifies the producer.

Its a pretty cheap and bad die cast. The black surface is full of bubbles and the edges of the numbers and swastika are too smooth. The metal loop is also wrong.
The picture is around 1 $ more likely less.

I tried using a magnet that I use on chalkboards but it diddnt stick. Fuck.

Also, the ring directly connected shouldn't be parallel to iron cross, like in your picture ?

And the big ring (which I don't have) should have a number ?

Is this thing connected to the ribbon just some made up shit or was it in use?

yes usually there is a number on the ring. i've never seen that kind of connection to the ribbon before, as i'm sure the cross itself is fake i would assume it s made up.

check this site for detailed information:
wehrmacht-awards.com/iron_cross/2nd_1st_class/manufacturing/manufacturing.htm