Grand Cross of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross Reputed to Have Been Brought Home by a Canadian S

Grand Cross of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross Reputed to Have Been Brought Home by a Canadian Soldier from Germany in 1945, the award is produced in fine quality multipiece, with the top frame being stamped “L21” and the reverse side is stamped ‘900’ and ‘21’, this is not a recognised maker for the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross. The award retains the ribbon loop and a piece of thick Knights Cross style ribbon. The award is housed in a black leatherette case without any button release and an internal card frame. The award has a nice patina. The vendor has provided the following information with the award, “This original period Government Display Award of the Grand Cross of the 1939 Iron Cross was brought back from Germany by a Canadian soldier serving with the Canadian Fusiliers. The Canadian Fusiliers landed on Juno Beach in Normandy France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, and it continued to fight in North-West Europe and into Germany until the end of the war. During one of their operations in Germany, they were fighting street to street and building to building. As they entered this one large building located at a main street intersection, they found themselves in a large open room which they later concluded to be a main post office. Over against one of the walls, was a large display case containing a vast array of German military and civil awards. This soldier as well as some of his comrades ran over and stood staring at all of the awards and decorations within. One of the soldiers took his rifle butt and smashed the glass of the large display case and they all started grabbing what they could and shoving them into their haversacks. The soldier that brought this particular piece back reached up above the other soldiers and removed the one that was at the very top of the display arrangement. It was purchased directly from him in the late 1980's. The German Government authorized a limited number of these high ranking military awards and decorations to be specifically used for public display in certain main government buildings for public viewing where the public would frequent. The government enforced strict control on the number of these awards that were to be made and stipulated that they were to bear the manufacturers LDO number on the back as usual but also it was to be lightly stamped on the obverse side as well. This was to insure that the few authorized awards for public display were never to be confused with any actual awarded decorations. On this cased 1939 Grand Cross, this criteria is visible at the top on the obverse side of the silver rim just below the suspension loop bearing the lightly stamped makers LDO number along with the silver content. As for this authorized government display Grand Cross of the 1939 Iron Cross, they designed the award's CASE for these public displays to be identical in appearance as the Knights Cross case but naturally large enough to accommodate the larger size of the Grand Cross.” This information is yet to be confirmed and no reference to this is noted in the reference book, “The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross” by Dietrich Maerz. We believe the cross to be a very good jewellers copy, quite possibly of the period.