HONVED Buckle of 1916

[rove]

hello
IMO perfect.
thx for more ops.
greetings

[Chip M]

Rove,

These are heavily faked. I am not sure what the tell-tale signs are, but nearly every Austro-Hungarian belt buckle is available as a reproduction and they are very good copies.l I wish I could give you some characteristics of the fakes, but I honestly don't know. This one does look artificially aged.

Chip

[ww1czechlegion]

I agree with what Chip says.

If you look at the buckle from the front side, is there a stamped marking on the upper or lower side of the buckle, near the right side? If there is a stamped mark, that is a bad sign of it being a fake.

The ones that are fake also have the pin for the claw placed very close to the edge of the frame of the buckle, exactly like yours does.

I used to have one that looks just like yours that was also artificially aged darker all over, and mine had a stamp on the top. I believed mine to be a fake example. I sold it as a copy, it is no longer in my collection.

All the Best,

Alan

[Chip M]

As Alan says, the earlier reported reproductions had a hallmark, if you will, usually on the upper side of the buckle. The punch mark (Punze) is a shield surmounted by a crown. These copies are excellent. Without the hallmark and a known original piece to compare with, I don't know how anyone could pick them out as copies.

Later copies often don't have this mark and are artificially aged.

Chip

[Chip M]

Here is the punch stamp I was referring to.

Chip