EK2 Prinzen spange L/15?

[stong]

Hi members,
Just got this prinzen size spange and need help to identify it.
I could not find any similar images in the forum archive.
Is this a genuine spange?
There is a fade maker mark which is very hard to
read, but looks like L/ ?5 on the back.
I know there is no L/5 maker, but does L/15 prinzen
size spange ever seen before?
Thanks in advance.
Sihong

[stong]

front

front

[stong]

back

sorry for the delay of the back.

[stong]

maker mark

maker mark is very difficult to read.
Looks like a L/ ? 5.
Any clues??

Thanks.
Sihong

[stong]

no one has similar spange??

[Gordon Williamson]

Hi Sihong,

Never seen one of these with a maker mark before. The overall quality and level of detailing looks good, but they did make some astonishingly good copies of this Prinzen Spange a few years back, virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

If I remember correctly the big giveaway then was that the prongs were exceptionally stiff, very difficult to bend and that if you did bend them you'd get little flakes of the silver plating coming away from the bend area on the prong. This could have been corrected by now.
Yours looks OK, but it would tak a hands-on examination to be confident.

[stong]

Hi Gordon,
Thanks for your valuable inputs.
I did bend the prongs for taking photos and the prongs
seem ok and easy to bend.
I also found out this spange looks very similar to the one
on p.104 of your book.

Sihong

[stong]

I put it under the microscope this morning and
took some photos of the maker mark.
I like to share these photos with all members.
It looks like L/15 under the microscope although the
photos are still not quite clear.

Sihong

[stong]

another one.