Brass Prussian Belt Buckle

[aferraro71]

Hello all!

I got this Prussian buckle for quite cheap a while back and was wondering if it was authentic, based on the research I did it appears to not be (angle-clipped prongs?), but maybe I'm wrong! Any input is appreciated :]

Dimensions are about 2.5" x 1.75" of the box, front of box to tip of ears are about 0.75" if that helps anything.

[AndyM35]

Not my area of expertise but to my eyes the shape of the crown and the way it comes right down to the bottom of the roundel does not look correct compared with original examples. There should be a gap between the two so that the crown appears to float on it’s own. Also, the detail lines on the bottom of the crown normally run horizontal or have a slight upward inflection unlike these which appear to curve down slightly. The general stamping is somewhat lacking as are some of the details that would be expected of an Imperial German piece.

Below is an original unissued example from my collection, and painted in feldgrau for comparison. Of course there were variations, so let’s wait to see what others have to say.

Andy

[Gwar]

Not my area of expertise but to my eyes the shape of the crown and the way it comes right down to the bottom of the roundel does not look correct compared with original examples. There should be a gap between the two so that the crown appears to float on it’s own. Also, the detail lines on the bottom of the crown normally run horizontal or have a slight upward inflection unlike these which appear to curve down slightly. The general stamping is somewhat lacking as are some of the details that would be expected of an Imperial German piece.

Below is an original unissued example from my collection, and painted in feldgrau for comparison. Of course there were variations, so let’s wait to see what others have to say.

Andy

Two completely different construction methods, two piece and die stamped, every manufacturer had their own dies usually made in house, that is WHY we can differentiate buckles based on traits, one maker may have had X amount of lines inside the 'O' and another more or less, the 'G' 'S' and 'T' fonts vary alot too, we need to compare the original posters buckle to known two piece examples or we are comparing apples to oranges, JMO

[AndyM35]

Thanks for your reply Gwar. So in your opinion, is the posters buckle original?

[AndyM35]

I never realised before as buckles are not an area I’ve studied, however, we have a whole section on them here: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/imperial-german-buckles/

[Gwar]

Thanks for your reply Gwar. So in your opinion, is the posters buckle original?

AndyM35, I think it stands a real good chance, now we can compare the different traits associated with these two piece buckles, this is just a SMALL sampling of known originals, it could take moths or even years to complete a full study / side by side, starting the original posters, notice all the differences..

[AndyM35]

Thank you for the informative reply Gwar. I can certainly see what you are saying with regards to the amount of different makers - yet another rabbit whole of study time required. One thing I will say about the OP’s buckle is that I do like the patina and noticed that it has some very convincing wear on the highest points as I’d seen on some other original examples. I actually looked at around 20 before replying yesterday and did notice a wide variety. I have three in the collection however one I am unsure of after doing the same visual comparisons a few years back.

I wonder how many manufacturers there were? I imagine also that details became more and more distorted ore less crisp as the dies began to wear and lesser quality materials were perhaps used, adding even more confusion to the mix.

Thanks again for the information.

Andy

[aferraro71]

Thank you all for the insight, it's been quite helpful thus far! I hope to reach a more solid conclusion at some point on the authenticity of this piece. I've heard some people mention that the ends of the prongs shouldn't be cut at an angle like that (I believe that was said by some individuals on this forum a while back when I had done some looking), do any of you know if that's correct? At the moment that's the one thing that's still tipping me off.