Iron Crosses
I have always loved these as well as German helmets. I want to have a really extensive helmet and cross collection. Some of you have posted your cross collections on here and it really amazes me.
I know a decent amount about iron crosses, i.e. proper construction, details to look for, rarities, etc. I have a few helmets so far but only one EKII, so I have decided to try and get every single maker mark possible. Here are my requests/questions:
1. Could someone post an approximate order of maker marked crosses from most common to least common? It would be nice in case I ever came across a few crosses for the same price and I had to choose one based on how long it will be before I see another again. This might be a little tedious but it would be an AMAZING reference. If there is already one somewhere that I don’t know about, please let me know.
2. I have skimmed the internet for good reference books but there doesn’t seem to be a solid clean cut iron cross reference book like there are with steel helmets. I know about the wehrmacht-awards website and it’s really nice but I would like to try and find a really good, thick book that I can use. Do any of you know of a good one?
3. Can someone run through the list of the rarities, i.e. the Übergrosse, Schinckel, etc. and explain exactly what these all are? I have only vague ideas of what they are but it would be cool if someone could just explain the differences in a nutshell.
4. What is the difference between a more orange ribbon as opposed to the red ones? Is the orange/white/black set-up a feature of earlier crosses?
5. Lastly, just out of curiosity, what is your favorite maker? I want to look at a lot of pretty crosses on this thread so I can pick a favorite. cool militaria
I have attached a few pictures of my cross, a 106 Bruder Schneider A.G., Wien, just in case anyone was interested in seeing it. Please feel free to post whatever pictures you wish.
At least my first one is one of the harder to find variants! 
Regards,
Mo
