Yesterday's Walmart

**Gwar** · 09-30-2013, 09:14 PM

Hello there fellow buckle enthusiast's
I have a few thoughts and would like to share them with you..
In my collecting of buckles I have seen many R.S.S. Assman, & C.T.D. as well as G.B.
and Overhoff & Cie etc; etc; Here in the States it almost resembles Walmart..
Were there many industries (Buckle makers) that could not keep up with production due to lack or resources.. Bulk purchases of materials, or even being collaterally bought out ??
It seems to me that some manufacturers were simply, Pardon the "Pun" Stamped out of exsistence as some small pharmacies here in the states due to buying power or contacts within the industry... Would this explain the abundance of some makers and the rarity of others? Or perhaps certain contractual obligations of the makers or both ??
Any insight would be of great help...Gwar

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 09-30-2013 09:14 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Ben Evans** · 09-30-2013, 09:24 PM

Some of the smaller makers bought buckles from the bigger makers and put their own stamps on the tabs etc so they could get a RZM contract, some carried on with buckles, others went down different routes making other items, the contract was what they were after. Some makers did indeed go out of business or merge with other local makers. Hope this makes some sense.

**kirby** · 10-01-2013, 01:14 AM

You can use the car business as a comparison. GM Ford and Toyota might have 50% of the US market and you might have 10 companies that have less than 10% of the market. Same thing with buckles. The big companies dominate the market.

**Gwar** · 10-01-2013, 11:43 AM

Thanks...
Moderator Evans.. Do you suppose then that (Just for instance)
Dransfeld.. Produced buckles in a great quantity and cottage types
then stamped their maker mark or logo on them ??
Does this explain why some makers like J.Deutschbein and others have a
mark punched rather than a all at once type buckle like C.T.D. or A.d. Baumeister type which is slightly raised on the buckle .. Gwar

**Ben Evans** · 10-01-2013, 01:01 PM

I dont recall ever seeing a Dransfeld marked buckle, tabs yes but not the buckle I dont think. I am sure the Menden consortium of buckle makers exchanged buckles anyway, same sort of thing like JC Maedicke, Berlin and C W Motz, Brandenburg, look at the eagles on their buckles they are the same. In ref to the punching v stamping I could only try and guess.