GERMANY 1914-1918 Honor Cross with swords (1934-44)

Description

The Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges 1914-1918 , colloquially called the Hindenburg Cross, was established in 1934 as a commemorative service medal for participants in World War I. The version with swords was awarded to combattants in the German and Austrian armies.

Hitler thought that the Armed Forces experience was the greatest thing in the world and everyone should have the opportunity to feel the joy of being in a large group doing what it was told to do. The military organizing methods, including the awarding of performance badges, was extended into many aspects of civilian life.

Medals, awards, decoration, insignia, documents, equipment, of military, police, private, and irregular military style organizations. We sometimes sell small weapons but we do not sell working firearms. If a thing happens to be military but is hundreds of years old I stop thinking of it as a military thing and start thinking of it as a relic or an antiquity. I suppose that means that “militaria” really starts around the middle of the 19th century or so, when uniforms became normal. Does that seem right to you?

Over the decades I’ve been selling collectibles my market has been about 97% coins, 2% paper money, 1% everything else.