Iron Cross 1st Class 1914 Reduced Size Screwback Private Purchase Prinzengröße

This is a Prussian Iron Cross First Class of 1914 (Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse 1914) in a reduced-size, private-purchase form with a screw-back attachment. The obverse carries the standard devices of the 1914 award, the crowned royal cypher W of Kaiser Wilhelm II on the upper arm, the date 1914 on the lower arm, and a central W, within the beaded inner border of the raised frame. Rather than the official pinned issue at the regulation size of roughly 43 mm, this is a smaller cross of the type collectors call Prinzengröße ("prince size"), measuring approximately 1.25 inches (about 32 mm) across, mounted for wear by a threaded screw post and a separate domed screw disc.

In construction the cross is of two-piece build, an iron core within a silver frame, and is gently vaulted. The reverse is a domed silver back fitted with a central threaded post; the accompanying circular screw disc (the counter-plate that seats against the inside of the tunic) is present and shown separately. This screw-and-disc mounting was a private-purchase alternative to the standard pin, favored because it held the cross more firmly and could not work loose or tear the cloth as a pin might. The reduced size and the screw fitting together mark this as a piece an officer bought for himself, not the plain issued award.

The history behind such pieces is that of the award and the culture of wearing it. The Iron Cross was reinstituted by Kaiser Wilhelm II in August 1914, the First Class being the higher grade worn on the breast for repeated or conspicuous gallantry; some 218,000 First Class crosses were awarded across the war. The official cross was a fixed pattern, but recipients frequently commissioned finer or more practical private versions from the Berlin and Pforzheim jewelers, in higher-grade silver, in vaulted form to sit against the chest, in the smaller Prinzengröße for a lighter and more elegant appearance, and with the secure screw-back fitting. A reduced-size screwback is therefore the mark of an officer who had earned the award and then bought a better one to wear, and it belongs to the private-purchase side of the decoration rather than the issued side.

The German terms translate as follows. Eisernes Kreuz is the Iron Cross; Prinzengröße, literally "prince size," is the collectors' name for the reduced-size private-purchase crosses; Schraubscheibe is the screw disc of the screw-back fitting; the crowned W is the cypher of Wilhelm II. No engraved name is present.

In condition the cross is complete with its screw post and matching screw disc, the obverse devices, crown, cypher, and date crisp within a clean beaded border, and the whole gently vaulted as made. The iron core shows areas of finish loss where the original black has flaked to bare metal, with the honest patina and handling wear of a worn private-purchase piece. One point belongs to identification rather than condition: no maker's mark is visible in the images, and the frame edge and the screw disc should be examined in hand for a jeweler's hallmark or silver stamp, since a marked maker such as Godet materially adds to a piece of this kind.

For the collector, a reduced-size screwback Iron Cross First Class is a desirable private-purchase variant of the most iconic German award, distinct from the common issued pinback and reflecting how officers actually chose to wear their decorations. It suits a collection built by the Iron Cross, by private-purchase and Prinzengröße pieces, or by the variations of the 1914 award.