A good condition original buckle !
I'd rather be A "RaD Man than a Mad Man "
As having already been confirmed by Gwar, an original HJ buckle and there are no issues in this respect.
Having said that and without wishing to appear overly pedantic, this wartime HJ buckle by Steinhauer & Lück is not made of zinc and is not cast. Instead, it is injection moulded in "Kriegsmetall" and where the latter is admittedly, a zinc based alloy.
These so called “Kriegsmetall” buckles when extracted from the mould had what was regarded as an unattractive grey appearance and were accordingly finished by being painted or lacquered in a silver or silver/grey solution. Unfortunately though, the chemical properties of the alloy caused the said finish to disappear by bleeding or leeching and I am blissfully unaware towards the correct metallurgical terminology here.
Even so and on very rare occasions, “Kriegsmetall” buckles are encountered with the original paint or lacquer finish essentially intact.
Regards and best wishes,
David
HQ South - nice to see some new HJ buckle collectors. And David, as always, thank you for the ""Kriegsmetall" and where the latter is admittedly, a zinc based alloy." Great to learn this. Here a M4/22 Christian Theodor Dicke. I have a few more etc.
Perhaps we can add a Kriegsmetall/Zinc "Sticky" HJ thread.
Last edited by weller; 07-07-2021 at 06:02 AM.
M4/24 Friedrich Linden
M4/59 Adolf Baumeister
Up next, the M4/118 - an interesting buckle for sure!
A jolly good idea, however and sadly, I do not think that this thread will further expand to any real worth. Many thanks for your images though.
It is a great pity, as the Forum holds some fascinating HJ images and old HJ discussions which are unfortunately now, almost impossible to extract with any ease.
From memory, we have images of HJ Kriegsmetall buckles with high amounts of the original obverse finish still intact and furthermore, those which have been post 1945 enhanced by buffing, plating and by goodness knows what else. The wonderfully controversial Assmann HJ in moulded aluminium has been featured and discussed, as well as silver painted, die stamped composite metal HJ buckles. On top of that are the HJ Kriegsmetall oddities which include earless boxes and those with distinct pin shrouds and claws, to name only a few characteristics.
This subject and in my opinion is a fascinating aspect of the so called later period HJ buckle. I suspect however that for many collectors today, there is no longer any enthusiasm or appetite for any discussion of specialised sub genres.
Regards and best wishes,
David
The HJ Maker thread remains a great resource. Some nice examples around post #45 or so. Would be great to see some more pristine examples that I may have missed.
H J Makers
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