Posted 13 years ago
muccasing
(1 item)
I would like some info on this necklace if anybody can find out please let me know at jamie_lump@hotmail.com thank you.On the left side of the skull it says ____ Pour ____on the right side it says ___leMe___ underneath the skull and bones it says ____rite___. Above the skull and bones there is a crown.
according to what I am reading, Pour le merite was the highest military medal given during WWI.
Highest military medal given during WWI... of the State of Prussia. This looks like some kind of Freikorps fantasy piece, and certainly isn't an authentic issued, period PLM.
Sorry for the double post, but it might also be worth pointing out that the only rust is bright orange "new" rust, implying that this is of more modern production rather than older.
This is a very crude fantasy copy which probably came out when the movie "Blue Max" was playing for sale to the kids/hippies. Iron Crosses with similar distortions were very common then.
Oh i forgot to mention tiis is not "rust" because it is made out of lead the rust looking must be just a shadow
Lead just proves without a shadow of a doubt that it is a very crude fantasy.
Let me expand on what Militarist said. During the 1960s, a fad started when surfers and bikers began wearing the Iron Cross on neck chains and other items. Mainly it was to annoy and set themselves apart from the establishment. Surfers started calling them Surfer’s Crosses, and sometimes they included the figure of a surfer on them. Other crosses featured skull and crossbones on them. Lots of these surfer/biker crosses were just crude pot metal castings. You still see the Iron Cross shape on many biker related items. Hotrod cartoonist Ed Roth of Rat Fink fame also popularized this use of the Iron Cross. These items continued to be produced in large numbers well into the 1970s and for all I know, they may still be being made.
In 1966, the Movie “The Blue Max,” featuring the Pour Le Merit came out. Some people started using the Pour Le Merit for these pieces instead of the Iron Cross, although they never really caught on the way the Iron cross did.
Well said Chris
This item was sold in the old "Johnson Smith" catalogs back in the day. I remember this particular medal when I was a kid, and in fact was able to secure one of these on eBay very shortly after I found this article. No idea of the manufacturer, but I'm pretty sure this is the *exact* piece in question; mine is lead as well. You can see the item in question here, described as "death cross medal":
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chinesejetpilot/312499100/in/album-72157594402746070/