Germany, Wehrmacht. A War Merit Cross, I Class with Swords and Case, by Julius Bauer & Söhne visually-hidden a brown leather sweatband fully

a brown leather sweatband fully surrounds the lower circumference and measures 38 mm in width and is secured to the cap with a row of machine stitching

part of the leafing on the bottom sprig is missing

a blue enamelled cross with clusters of smooth rays in each quadrant

in silver with a silver support plate

RZM paper tag on reverse

Germany, Wehrmacht. A War Merit Cross, I Class with Swords and Case, by Julius Bauer & Söhne visually-hidden a brown leather sweatband fully(Kriegsverdienstkreuz I. Klasse mit Schwertern und Etui). Constructed of silvered tombak, consisting of a Maltese Cross with crossed swords piercing the centrepiece, the obverse with pebbled arms, bearing a central wreathed mobile swastika, the reverse with a barrel hinge and flattened vertical pinback meeting a flat wire catch, the pinback maker marked with Prsidialkanzlei code 43 for Julius Bauer & Shne, Zella Mehlis, measuring 47. 98 mm (w) x 47.