52 Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords and Diamonds.

Spanish cross in Gold with swords and diamonds "B - piece". Features gold plated bronze construction with pin to reverse. Reverse features finely engraved maker mark: 

"J. Godet & Sohn unter den Linden 53".

The obverse center is set with 14 silver mounted old cut (8/8) diamonds (paste). 

The center medallion with two rivets to the reverse. Some stones show wear/chips. 

The eagles are separately soldered between the arms of the cross with burnished swastikas. One eagle shows a minor fracture. 

Magnificent, well worn original issue of the greatest rarity.

The Spanish cross was established by decree of the Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 14 April 1939. 

"As a visible expression of my appreciation and recognition of the German volunteers in the fight against the Bolsheviks in the Spanish struggle for freedom"

The highest class, the Spanish cross in Gold with swords and diamonds, was awarded only 28 times. It is thus one of the rarest Military Valor honors of the Third Reich. 

After the end of the Spanish Civil War, the victorious returnees were honoured by a large victory parade.

The soldiers marched on 6 June 15, 1939 in Berlin along a route of countless swastika flags. The children had been given an extra day off on this sunny Tuesday. The day before, in the district of Zehlendorf, the Wannseestraße had been solemnly renamed into Spanish Avenue - as a sign of close ties with the dictatorship of General Franco, appointed as "Caudillo" (leader).

The victory parade would take the awardees down the street "Unter den Linden" to the assembled political notables along a tight cordon of hundreds of thousands of visitors through the Lustgarten. Arriving on time at 10 o'clock, between 15000 and 20000 legionaries assembled behind the Brandenburg gate. 

Almost all of them were decorated with the Bronze, silver or Gold Spanish Crosses, a total of 26116.  

During the "victory speech" in front of the Old Museum in the Lustgarten, Adolf Hitler thanked them for their service in Spain as a "battle for Germany" and "a message to our opponents". Hermann Göring described the victory against Spanish fascism as a rescue from the "bloodlust of Bolshevism" in Europe. 

Prominent recipients of the Spanish Cross in Gold with swords and brilliants were, among others, the first recipients of highest German valor award, the oak leaves with swords and brilliants to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross: Mölders and Galland. Also the later Field marshals Wolfram v. Richthofen and Hugo Sperrle.

The following officers received the award in brilliants: Oberleutnant Hans-Detlef v.Kessel, Major Martin Harlinghausen, Major Karl-Heinz Wolff, Oberleutnant Wilhelm Balthasar, Lieutenant Otto Bertram, Lieutenant Adolf Galland, Hauptmann Harro Harder, Hauptm. Günter Lützow, Hauptm. Werner Mölders, Oberleutn. Walter Oesau, Lieutenant. Reinhard Seiler, Hauptm. Wolfgang Schellmann, Hauptm. Joachim Schlichting, Lieutenant. Wilhelm Boddem, Oberleutn. Kraft Eberhardt, Leutn. Oscar Henrici, Lieutenant. Heinz Runze, Oberleutn. Max Graf Hoyos, Lieutenant Karl Mehnert, Hauptm. Rudolf Freiherr v. Moreau,Hauptm. Wolfgang Neudörffer, Oberleutn. Bernhard Stärcke, Lieutenant Paul Fehlhaber, Major General Wolfram Frhr. v. Richthofen, General der Flieger Hugo Sperrle, General der Flieger Helmut Volkmann and Colonel Wilhelm Ritter v. Thoma.

The brilliants pieces differ from the Spanish Cross in gold with swords in many respects The overall dimensions are significantly larger as well as the multi-piece medallion. No conventional "issue" Spanish Crosses were ever used as the basis for the brilliants pieces.

All originals, both "A and B" pieces, have exactly the same die strike characteristics. The set stones all features custom jeweler characteristics.  

The example offered for sale is an original awarded "B - piece" which was intended for daily use, similar to the "B pieces" of the oak leaves with swords and diamonds to the Knight's Cross of the Iron cross. 

Apart from the different materials and the simili stones, the B-pieces are identical to the A-pieces. Wearing the B - pieces is documented by contemporary photographs of a number of awardees, among them General Field Marshal von Richthofen

The first original "B - piece" of this high Valor award for the Spanish Civil War offered for sale. .

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