Another Danziger Skull

[Rick19]

Hello all. A pleasure to contribute to this thread. I am new to skulls but not new to collecting. I have mostly posted on the WAF regarding ww1 and pre ww2 field gear. Recently, I caught a bit of the dreaded skull bug.

I posted this skull on the WAF and mostly got good opinions. Marten thankfully replied on there and said it may be a copy and suggested I post here. Based on a seller in East Europe selling quite a few of these in the past, i would tend to agree.

I have seen what I'm sure are originals of a similar style (in this thread) but they don't have the mandible contours above the one row of teeth. I currently am sending Marten an example of one of these to have in hand.

A few questions I have that hopefully can be answered eventually.
-Does this stye exist original or are all examples a fake that has been absorbed into collections?
-Did someone get a die and are making these with new material?
-Are these somehow part of another hoard?

So I am anxious to hear your opinions. Thank you.

[Aldo]

Hello and welcome. This type of skull was deemed to be very rare for a awhile and recently has been making many appearances. I have to agree with Martin that it might be a copy reminiscent of many new generation fakes like the Deschler 52 coming out of eastern Europe. There is a thick quality to the metal that is not seen on originals. They all seem to be down to the bare metal with no real patina to speak of, often times they are polished. Also the shape and contour nasal cavity is a big red flag for me. I'm sure an in hand inspection by Marten will reveal more. It is a very convincing TK

Here are my examples many of which share the same characteristics down to the same type of patina and corrosion

Here are more examples from my archives when these seem to have been very hard to find. Yours is modeled after this type

Another link of interest.

A somewhat special danziger set

[Rick19]

Thank you Al! That makes sense. I do like that first model. The originals of my type on the bottom do appear much older than the one I posted.

[Aldo]

Here is one posted by Dan "Buster1". It looks like yours but it's highly polished.

My latest acquisition



I'm not trying to discredit anyone's TK but I just noticed all this extra residue along the edges. I just highlighted a few of the areas indicative to me of being a cast piece. You can see a lot of extra material when you zoom in. Perhaps I'm wrong. Marten has a better understanding of the die process

[Rick19]

Wow, they all for the most part have no patina. Now that you said it I compared the metal to an original berlin hoard type I have, and there is a thicker and heavier feeling to the metal.

[Aldo]

Every skull I own of every Danziger variety to SS TK Deschler's, etc have a lightweight almost tinny feel to them. The exceptions are the zinc badges, Zimmermann's and Overhoff's that are almost two times heavier and thicker in appearance than their cupal or alu conterparts. Invest in a small scale to weigh the grams and you'll soon get a feel for what the norm is for a particular type of metal. I usually don't publish the weights so as not to further help the forgers.

[Dos]

Hello Rick, good to see you over here. I couldn’t resist commenting on the thread you made on WAF.

I’m curious to see this specimen in hand. Although some of the most knowledgeable people have given their thumbs up. I have my reservations on this one. I hope to be wrong, but with the high number of findings in the past few years of this model we need to have some scrutiny.

[Rick19]

Thanks again Marten, I'm thinking the not tinny feel is the deal breaker, and yes the number was what made me believe your feelings it was a copy.

Can't wait to get your opinion.

Al, that's great you don't post the weights.