Iron Cross 2nd Class 1914 Prussian EK2 Original Ribbon WWI Eisernes Kreuz

This is a Prussian Iron Cross Second Class of 1914 (Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914), the ribbon-suspended lower grade of the most widely awarded and most recognizable German decoration of the First World War. The obverse carries the devices of the 1914 reinstitution: the crowned royal cypher W of Kaiser Wilhelm II on the upper arm, a central W, and the date 1914 on the lower arm. The reverse carries the historic devices of the order's origin: the crowned cypher FW of King Friedrich Wilhelm III, a spray of three oak leaves at the center, and the date 1813. The cross hangs by its ring from the black-and-white combatant ribbon, here folded in the triangular field style. It measures approximately 1.74 inches (about 44 mm) across, the regulation size.

In construction the cross is of the standard two-piece form, an iron core set within a silver frame, with a beaded inner border framing each arm and a ribbed edge to the frame. The suspension is a ring through the upper arm, threaded on the ribbon. The two faces carry the two halves of the Iron Cross story deliberately: the reverse looks back to 1813 and the founding king, while the obverse marks the war in which this particular cross was earned.

The history is the reason the piece matters even though it is common. The Iron Cross was instituted on 10 March 1813 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia during the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon, as a decoration open to every rank, a novel idea for its day, rewarding the deed rather than the station of the man. It was dormant in peacetime and revived for each great national war: in 1870 for the Franco-Prussian War, and again in August 1914 by Kaiser Wilhelm II for the First World War. Each reissue kept the original 1813 date and the founder's FW cypher on the reverse and added the new year to the obverse, so that a 1914 cross carries both dates. In the First World War the Second Class was awarded on a vast scale, several million times, to soldiers of every German state and arm, which makes it the common thread running through nearly every German veteran's service and the foundation piece of any collection of German awards.

The German elements translate as follows. Eisernes Kreuz is the Iron Cross; the crowned FW is the cypher of Friedrich Wilhelm III, under whom the cross was founded; the crowned W is the cypher of Wilhelm II, under whom it was revived in 1914; the oak leaves are the traditional German emblem of steadfastness and valor; 1813 is the year of founding and 1914 the year of this reinstitution. No engraved name is present.

In condition the cross is complete and sound on its original ribbon, the two-piece build tight, the obverse and reverse devices, cyphers, oak leaves, and dates all crisp within clean beaded borders. The frame shows an even age patina and the honest surface wear of a worn cross, and the ribbon is intact in its triangular fold. One point of identification: many of these crosses carry a small maker's mark on the ring, and the ring should be examined in hand for a stamp, which can attribute the piece to a particular maker.

For the collector, the Iron Cross Second Class 1914 is the essential German award, the decoration from which the entire tradition descends and the one most closely tied to the ordinary soldier's war. Complete on its original combatant ribbon, this is a sound representative example, suited to a collection of German awards, of the Iron Cross across its issues, or as the cornerstone the series is built around.