Ha ha hah a, cheers, well I can`t think of the right English words sometimes. And if I did it in Swiss German nobody would understand a word.
The ring is very loose, and so when that is picked up and buttoned onto a uniform, the first part to get any contact action, is that little messing loop ring. Even if you were sitting still, it would still swing a bit... so it stands to reason that if that ring was silver coated (which it was) then surely there must be lots of rubbing action on that ring. It also rubs on the ribbon, as it is not stiff but slides underneath it and changes places.
So that`s what I wanted to show with that, just a common logic place to first look for any honest patina on the micro level. (If the item is correctly made and worn)
I never had any real miniatures, and don`t care for awards, but was simply amazed at the period German quality under the microscope. I did hope to find (reasonable) quality even with an item that is not even 1 cm!, but the quality in die creation on both Ritterkreuz and EK are simply amazing. I guess you have to understand the whole process of going from design to master die-reducing that onto small steel working dies etc (and know what the small tools looked like). to really appreciate it. Everyday business for a quality Third Reich producer for sure, especially with makers like Deumer and Steinhauer..... but still, I was amazed!