Braunschweiger Totenkopf, Real or Fake?

[Dos]

Hello WarRelics Members,

I need your help again in this matter,

I found this skull for sale as a traditional braunschweig Tk. I did some research on this variant a while back. I allready own the version of a braunschweig Tk that was also in wear in WW2.

The piece we are talking about seems to be pre war and WW1. These are also heavily faked, and from what i can find online not that many pass as the real deal...

The shape of the crossbones seems right. The detail and shape of the skull are not vague and the edges dont seem to be jagged from what i can see.

My concern is more about the prongs. The real examples i could find have them positioned on a different position.

Stonemint has a thread that has some reference pictures, and on the WA forums i did find some information aswell...

Is there anyone else that has any knowledge about these?

Overall i have a good feeling about this one, But once again more opinions are welcome!

Thank you.

I'm getting better pictures as we speak, But these are not that bad:



Regards,

Dos

[stuka f]

Judging by the finition, I would say; "no".
The nose cavity, and the right side where the bones meet, are sloppy.
But I am no expert, wait for other answers.

[Dos]

Thank you Stuka f. It makes me doubt the piece more now. And thats a good thing, we need to be careful.

The communication with the seller is rather slow, Still waiting for better pictures.

Is there anyone that has any knowledge about these here, or has an authentic piece in his collection that is willing to post it?

Or maybe knows someone that i can contact for some talk about these pieces?

Best regards,

Dos

[Aldo]

I've seen the one in OP before on a website and had my reservations about it. Unfortunately I don't know enough about them to make an informed decision but here is an example recently sold on the Telesmanich website as a visual comparison. I assume there were different variants as in all these TK's

Regards, Al


Credit: John Telesmanich

[Dos]

Thanks Aldo for showing. I haven't seen this variant before. Although i did find a rather qeustionable piece that looks similar to the one you are showing with also a piece of cloth behind the skull.

It's for sale on, Braunschweiger Totenkopf fur die Schirmmutze Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 92 fur Mannschaften - Braunschweig - Kaiserreich & Weimarer Republik: Uniformeffekten, Ausrustung, etc - Militaria / Helmut Weitze

The jagged edges is something we don't want to see on WW2 era skulls. I believe that at the time of these skulls the quality control would not be as good as with a goverment agency like RZM behind it.. You will always get an edge after die cutting a piece of metal, To what extent this is finished by the maker is up to them. Although this will certainly fall within certain limits!

I hope to get back here soon with some better pictures.

Best regards,

Dos



Edit: No respond from seller to make any better quality photos. And can't reach him on the phone.. so there goes that.