B Stuck .935 Brillanten by Klein - Real or Fake?
Only twenty-seven Ritterkreuzträger received the Brillanten, making it a very rare award. The last set of allegedly genuine Brillanten sold reportedly realised around $100,000.00 US. This was a silver B Stuck set like the one shown above and changed hands between two well known collectors.
In 1990, the Deutsches Ordensmuseum published a list of the known fate of genuine examples of the Brillianten. ‘A’ refers to the platinum sets and ‘B’ to the silver versions. Not every Brilliantenträger received two sets. Ramcke, for instance, received just one set. The set attributed to Marseille which is on display at the Luftwaffe Museum in Utersen is a copy and there is some question as to whether Marseille actually received a set of Brillanten before his death. Other RKT, like Adolf Galland, received more than two sets.
According to the DOM, just two sets were unaccounted for in 1990, both of these being A Stück platinum Brillanten.Vorhanden in Familienbesitz,
beim Träger oder beim Käufer 15A, 10B
nicht augehändigt 3A, 6B
in den Kriegswirren verloren
gegangen 3A, 0B
von den Siegern erbeutet, gestohlen 1A, 1B
beim Absturz zerstört 1A, 2B
umgearbeitet in eine Brosche 1A, 0B
umgearbeitet in eine Brosche
und gestohlen 1A, 0B
mit den Trägern beigesetzt 0A, 3B
in Gefangenschaft abgenommen 0A, 5B
unklar 2A, 0B
Total, 27A 27B
Klein of Hanau produced most of the wartime Brillianten and also made reproductions after the war. Some early sets were apparently made by Godet and the first three recipients, Werner Mölders, Adolf Galland and Gordon Gollob, are said to have received these "1st Type" Godet Brillanten at their investitures.
Adolf Galland wearing an undoubtedly genuine set of Brillanten
Anyone who has read Galland’s memoir The First and The Last knows the story of Göring and Galland, that Göring had a set made for Galland after examining the set given to the fighter ace by Hitler and that Hitler, on learning of this, then presented Galland with an even better set. In his memoir, Galland wrote:
"How I got the diamonds is another story. Hitler had given me one set with the usual ceremony. Some time later, when I was sitting opposite Göring in his special train at his H.Q. in the Ukraine, Göring looked at me quizzically and said, 'tell me, are those diamonds the Fuhrer gave you? Let me have a look at them.'
I put down my knife and fork and started to take off the Knight's Cross...
... Göring took my diamonds in his hand and scrutinised them. 'No,' he said with a grimace of disapproval. 'These aren't diamonds at all. They're just stones, ordinary stones. The Fuhrer has been swindled over this. He knows a a lot about guns, battleships and tanks but hasn't a clue about diamonds. Look here, Galland, I'll get some for you. Then you will see what diamonds really are. I still have a few left'.
He took the Diamonds and I fastened on my Knights Cross with a paper clip. Later I went to Karinhall to see Göring. The Diamonds had been made by his court jeweller and Göring was as pleased as a child.
'Look here,' said Göring, holding a decoration in each hand so that the diamonds sparkled. 'These are the Fuhrer's Diamonds and these are the Reichmarschall's. Do you see the difference? Now, which one of us knows about diamonds?' I had to admit that he was right. The Reichmarschall's had a beauty of their own, they were larger and had a wonderful brilliance. Compared with them, the Fuhrer's stones looked very inferior. He gave me both decorations back and I now had two sets.
Well, later it seems that Hitler found out about this and stated that the original pair he had awarded were only 'temporary'. He then ordered another pair made which was presented to Galland as a third set after he criticised the second (Göring's pair) as 'just ordinary stones'.
Towards the end of the war my command post near Berlin was completely destroyed by bombs, and among other things I lost set No. 3. When Hitler heard of this he had a new set made. This was my fourth".
So Galland received four sets during the war, including the issue set criticised by Göring, the set he received from the Reichsmarschall and the two sets he received from the Führer, one of which was destroyed, as Galland recounts.
However, as the above extract from an article in the May 23 1953 Munich edition of Revue magazine shows, Galland's brother commissioned a new set of Brillanten for Adolf Galland, who was working as an advisor to General Perón in Argentina, helping to modernise the dictator’s airforce. The article states: A prospective customer has already appeared: the former General der Jagdflieger Galland, who has been living in Argentina for some time. The inquiry came from a Polizei-Wachtmeister, on behalf of Dr. Jur. Galland of Essen, a brother of the ex-General. The Polizei-Wachtmeister is himself a highly-decorated fighter pilot and one of Knoth’s best customers. From his meagre police salary, he laboriously saves money for his medal collection. For him, these are not just medals but symbols of history.
The set taken from Galland by Göring at the dinner table was probably a Godet piece. Galland’s anecdote is sometimes cited as bearing out the story that Hermann Göring had Brillianten production switched from Godet to Klein because he felt that Godet's product was not good enough for his boys, the first five recipients being Luftwaffe pilots. However, if Göring commissioned Klein, then where did Hitler source the sets he later presented to Galland? Could it be true, after all, that Göring commissioned Tiffany’s Paris branch to produce the replacement set he gave Galland? Given Göring’s nature, it is entirely possible. However, by the time Galland received the Brillanten from Hitler on 28.1.1942, the United States was at war with Germany and Tiffany’s was an American company. On the other hand, the early Godet Diamonds are also said to have been inlaid by Tiffany's. It is more likely that Göring turned to one his regular jewellers to improve upon what he felt was an inferior product.
The Galland family have indicated recently that they have two sets of Brillanten. Back in 1953, Galland needed a set as he wore his decorations in Argentina and a set was produced at considerable expense and sent to him. So one of the sets in the possession of the Galland family may be the set made in 1953. Is the fourth set that to which Galland refers in The First and the Last, which was the second set given to him by Hitler? Was the second set of Brillanten given to Galland by Hitler made by Klein? The logical conclusion, given Hitler’s personal interest in decorations and the rigour with which the LDO enforced the rules governing Ritterkreuz production, is that the second set given in 1942 to Galland by Hitler were made by Klein.
However, the 1953 magazine article poses an awkward question. If the Galland family had two sets of Brillanten back in 1953 – or three sets, if you believe that they sold a set to a well known American dealer a few years ago – then why did they go to the trouble and considerable expense – DM 3.200.00 - of having a set made for Adolf Galland to wear at functions in Argentina? Why not simply send him one of the two or three sets they had?
The conclusion is that neither Adolf Galland nor his family had any sets of Brillanten in 1953, unless they had the set that Galland was wearing when he went into captivity at the end of the war. If so, why did they not simply have that set sent out to Buenos Aires in the Argentine diplomatic bag or via one of Perón's couriers, given that General Galland was working for the Argentine government? Sentimental reasons? They wished to retain the wartime set? I think it unlikely because for Germans, the document is the award. The medal is merely an outward sign of possession of the document.
Two more likely scenarios are either that, as in Rudel’s case, for instance, someone stole Galland’s [/i]Brillanten[/i] at some point during his time as a POW or that he sold them for scrap value during one of his periods of penury after being demobilised. Had he still had at least one of the superior sets from Göring or Hitler in 1953, why would he have asked his brother to commission the best possible Brillanten money could buy when considerably less than DM 3.200 would have gotten him a perfectly acceptable wearing copy to show off in front of the Argentines?
Given that Klein continued to produce Brillanten after the war for collectors, as the above advertisement from a 1960s militaria magazine shows. Klein’s commercial reproductions differed slightly from the wartime sets but Klein, like Godet and some other firms, are alleged to have made perfect replicas of the wartime pattern Brillanten to order.
For some years, the West Coast dealer Steve Wolfe has displayed a set of what are described as Galland’s Brillanten in his showcase alongside two other sets. Mr Wolfe is said to have stated that he obtained this set from the Galland family. The Galland family has made no comment other than to indicate that Adolf Galland’s Brillanten remain in the family and that there are two sets. Unless one of them is one of the four sets presented to Galland during the war, the sets held by the Galland family would seem to be postwar as well.
If this is the case, then it would not be first time someone has bought high end decorations from a German family that turned out to be postwar copies or fakes. Many RKT families possess replicas. More than a few have sold the original documents, for example, after commissioning perfect replicas for form’s sake. Some have probably sold the replicas as originals! One RKT is known to have sold his cross at least four times to gullible buyers!
The likelihood is that Mr Wolfe’s “Galland Brillanten” came into existence sometime after the end of WW2.
In conclusion, we can be fairly sure that the early Brillanten were supplied to the Präsidialkanzlei by Godet, which makes sense, and that Klein subsequently received official approval to produce the award after it was decided that Godet’s product was, for whatever reason, not good enough. Any set of Brillanten that does not conform to known, original examples of the Godet (Type 1) or Klein (Type 2) Brillanten must by definition be suspect.
To make matters worse, Klein are alleged to have made some perfect replicas of their wartime Brillanten so we are faced with a similar situation to that pertaining to Godet Oakleaves and Oakleaves & Swords. Unless there is unshakeable provenance, who can tell what is real? Did Göring have a private jeweller make, at least, the Brillanten he gave to Galland? Or did he go to Klein? Whatever the case, the evidence suggests that, by 1953, Adolf Galland no longer had any of the four sets of Brillanten to which he referred in his memoir.
PK
