I would appreciate your thoughts about this Mother Cross in Bronze. It mentions the (in)famous "Das Kind adelt die Mutter". The seller I bought it from was obviously not aware that two versions of the back side existed. The cross itself seems to be authentic : same weight, feel and form; enamel seems as it should be. The back is flat and smooth, so no indication that an earlier inscription (16 Dezember 1938) would have been wiped / overwritten. Also, the text seems to be contemporary to the cross itself. There is no sign that the inscription was added recently.

When I compare the text on the back with the one in the Niemann catalogue (which was a MC in Silver), the text is however slightly higher and thicker (identical to grain of the 16 Dezember 1938 inscriptions) and some letters are slightly different because of the thicker thread.

I read somewhere that the original text was changed because it was too large for the machinery used by most manufacturers at that time to engrave easily on the cross and that it caused a lot of fall out (incomplete ingraving, damage to the edges of the rays of the cross) and that hence the manufacturers would have had to use jewellery-grade engraving techniques, which would have significantly increased production cost, which was not an option for a medal that was supposed to be so largely distributed.

Researching this topic, it is my understanding that this V1 cross was indeed manufactured but that there is some doubt as to if it had been ever distributed. Some say "yes", others say "no". It is however not unlikely that one batch "fell through the cracks" and was eroneously shipped to a Gau for distribution (human error). We know for example that the award document for the mother cross was modified late 1939 for awards to be made as from 1940. However, some awards document dating back to 24 December 1939 distributed in Austria already had the new version, whilst they were still using the "old" award document in Germany at the same date.

Some people have stated that this cross has been reproduced quite a lot. I do have some doubts about this, because, in 20 years, it’s the first time I come accros a V1 MC and secondly because the value of the mother cross, due to its very large distribution, was low. So, making copies would not be very lucrative. Also, if one decided to copy, he/she would probably go for the more expensive version (the MC in Gold) as more money was to be gained.

My conclusion is therefore that it is either (i) an unfinished original cross on which someone has opportunistically added the "Das Kind adelt"-language shortly after the war; or (ii) that it is an original one.

But I would really appreciate your thoughts / views. Thanks a lot !