Imperial German Buckles.

[DUJAILAH]

Richard, thanks for your reply, I was getting worried that some of the contributors to this excellent thread were no where to be seen or heard.....I guess the jury will stay out on this one ! I shall keep hold of my specimen as it cost me nothing anyway, and I would not disrespect my fellow collector by abandoning his good will (I think the buckle looks good real or not !)...it will remain in hallowed company, perhaps, just perhaps, there may be future debate yet with regards to these buckles.
Prost ! Steve.

Hi Steve, this is a real problem with Imperial Buckles. There's just not enough info out there about fakes. I would say, if these are/were fakes I would expect to see a lot more around, Cheers, Richard.

[AntonEbans]

This one is way above my head. I'll adhere to a collector with more experience.

Anton
(MitEinerHaltung on histoirémilitaria14-18)

[CCMJR]

help identify the hersteller on tab FR.ROT...1916 more do not read

It could be "Fr. Böttger" who was manufacturing leather goods in Eisleben. I have four listings for leather items his company made during the war. Three have Friedrich spelled out, but one only has "Fr."

CCMJR

[CCMJR]

Regarding Steve's brass buckle, I don't see anything wrong with it. I had always considered these one-piece brass jobs to be private purchase pieces, but after reading Sleepwalker's comments, it does seem like the majority of these I have seen were in veteran's bring back groupings and if they were on a belt, it was almost always a private purchase belt. I really doubt they were being made for veteran's groups in 1919 when American soldiers would have been able to pick them up. These veteran groups, for the most part, were not formed until the 1920s, by which time the American army was gone. So, if they are not wartime pieces, then they would have to have been made for the postwar souvenir trade. Another thing to think about is that brass was a controlled metal during the war. The chances of some company getting this metal to make private belt buckles seems very remote. So, once again, the postwar explanation makes more sense.

CCMJR

[maxrsx]

dujailan this clearer pics

[DUJAILAH]

Thanks Maxrsx, I've never seen these marks before. I wonder if anyone else has? Cheers, Richard.

[maxrsx]

dujailan Your opinion buckle original?

[DUJAILAH]

It looks like an original buckle to me just with unusual markings.

[maxrsx]

Big thanks for your answer

[maxrsx]

CCMJR Thank perhaps you might be right. difficult to see a few more letters EIS likely EISLEBEN.