How To Store And Display Awards.

[Robert Pierce]

Interesting points, both of you. Thank you. I just recently purchased an early WWll German War Merit Cross 1st Class. An inexpensive piece, very common. I like the early Third Reich pieces, with some even being awarded pre-1939. The early pieces, as this cross (known as the KVK1), were constructed out of a brass or 'tombak' (I believe a mixture of brass and copper) base metal. This was plated with German silver, which was an ad-mixture of copper, brass and tin. There was no real silver in these pieces (to my knowledge) until you get up into the Knight's Cross category of this award. With all this said, let me get to the point. They were issued in a leatherette case which was lined with velvet and a velour material. The portion of the case that the cross set in (being the bottom of the case, of course) was glued into the case with a glue made from horses' hooves. People say the inner case has a discernable smell or odor all of it's own. This is a good sign to a Third Reich collector. After years of being in this case, the cross picks up bad tarnish. I mean some are really bad. Now it makes perfect sense why they tarnished so. In the later years of the war the same cross was made from a die-forged, and finally a die-casted zinc base metal. This was again plated during mid-war and then applied as a thinner 'wash' in the closing years of the war. But the final process in all of their constuction was a layer of varnish/lacquer to seal the piece for whatever purpose (probably preservation). I may be off a little in my understanding but, in general terms I'm close. Pieces that have survived the time in near-mint to mint condition have nearly no tarnish to speak of even though they too were stored in their original presentation cases. IMO, their varnish coating has protected them. Pieces that received normal to heavy wear lost their protection and hence tarnished. The case builders were probably unaware of the hazards involved with the construction materials they were using. Please understand, I am no expert when it comes to the construction or preservation of WWll German medals, etc.; these are just my own observations and what little I have learned reading on the subject. But I now can see there may be a connection between the badly oxidized surfaces of these medals and the cased they were stored in for so long.

Respects.
Robert