German Railroad Eagle, Dont know if they are original or reproductions.

[ajax3985]

- Hi ajax3985, the second one is an original that sold recently at Hermans Historica auction. Note the mounting hardware on the rear of this eagle, in particular the nail mounds & the square posts with the holes in for mounting into timber walls etc. On the repro 1st eagle at the start of this thread and other similar re-casts from the originals you can see how these square posts haven't cast properly- nor do they have the side holes forthe clips and how in general the details are much weaker and just not sharp along the lines -this one almost looks like a 'sand cast' of the original. Here are a couple more fake repro casts from originals that were previously shown on other forums, Best regards, Michael

Michael,

Going to have to disagree with you respectfully on the first bird and it differs from these and maintains a couple notable things that I like to see on period pieces. I believe it is fact correct. The mounting configurations are important and you can sometimes call a bird off them on their own, but in other cases and in most cases actually there are several things to look for. The RR eagle may be right as you say and they actually vary by maker, so not only do you have to know the birds in general, each individual manufacturer has its own tell tales and when I get to Wehog and particularly APAG I cannot always make a quick and decisive call. Of course I am working off of photos that are not the best so the RR eagle is more difficult for me with those that are shown here, but the first I am pretty sure its o.k at least by the standards I use and things I look for.

[mloppkit]

Hi ajax3985,
The second eagle I refer to is the 2nd Art-Deco political eagle that I posted pictures of- not the railway eagle. I was just pointing out the differences between the first Art-Deco political eagle posted at the start of this post (with the railway eagle) that doesn't have these mounting points and looks to be sand cast and the Hermans Eagle that i posted that has mounting hardware and is mould cast. No problem with respectfully disagreeing, that is what this forum is all about. The wreath around the swaz for example looks to me to have no sharp definition and to be a repro sand casting of an original.
Cheers.

[ajax3985]

Hi ajax3985,
The second eagle I refer to is the 2nd Art-Deco political eagle that I posted pictures of- not the railway eagle. I was just pointing out the differences between the first Art-Deco political eagle posted at the start of this post (with the railway eagle) that doesn't have these mounting points and looks to be sand cast and the Hermans Eagle that i posted that has mounting hardware and is mould cast. No problem with respectfully disagreeing, that is what this forum is all about. The wreath around the swaz for example looks to me to have no sharp definition and to be a repro sand casting of an original.
Cheers.

I looked at the wreath as well and the bird has a couple sloppy points to it, but it also has a couple things that were done during the period and a guy would need to know those things and none of the fakes have it that I have seen before. So many birds lately, sometimes I think my brain is going to melt looking at them all. Crazy hobby it is.

Happy Holidays!

[mloppkit]

Michael,

Going to have to disagree with you respectfully on the first bird and it differs from these and maintains a couple notable things that I like to see on period pieces. I believe it is fact correct. The mounting configurations are important and you can sometimes call a bird off them on their own, but in other cases and in most cases actually there are several things to look for..........but the first I am pretty sure its o.k at least by the standards I use and things I look for.

Hi ajax3985,

It has been a couple of years and I have now seen, weighed, photographed and measured a bunch of these birds- essentially I have been lucky enough to have been given access to several original and fake examples by the dealers and owners and have been able to study them in-depth. As a result of this, I have to now retract my earlier position and state unequivocally that I believe you are completely correct in your call.

The first wall eagle seems to be a textbook example of the earlier left facing head RENO RZM M3/82 E. Gruber & Co political eagle (when looking at it) as opposed to the slightly later model with the head facing right (when looking at it). Examining this style of bird closely shows that I was mistaken about it being 'sand-cast', I was seeing the aluminum corrosion so common with this earlier version. The mounting hardware is also correct for this earlier version and will have the earlier maker mark correctly positioned positioned atop the right wing- it was the second model that used the ring clips and mounting nails

There is a lot of misinformation going around about this particular eagle posted, namely that this was a 60's/ 70's reproduction made and sold by 'World-wide arms' or 'Delta International' or the WW2 Ltd. Company (who's catalog out of St. Louis Missouri shows them appearing for $10 USD in 1973). I have now seen these advertisements and reproduction versions and they indeed exist but were not made like this in a 37" size and had a completely different style of back, different mounting hardware and quite dull edges on the radiating wing/ feathers. They are also missing the other features you are aware of (as per your impressive wall eagle by the same maker previously posted). This eagle posted by 'Sweaty Cabbage' measures exactly the same and is almost identical in weight to the later version sold by Ratisbons recently with the bronze anodized finish and shares many features with the other original examples posted.

I could go on about these eagles as they are one of my favorite heavily 'Art-deco' stylized eagle designs but I will finish by saying congratulations to the owner who posted this nice example and also to Kevin1947 for posting his excellent example. Again my apologies to Ajax3985 for doubting your evaluation when at the time of the eagle being posted, you had had an intimate knowledge of wall eagles by this manufacturer and had undoubtedly inspected more of them than myself,

Best Regards,
Michael