Hi guys,
Attached are a few pics of a small "w" Wurster PAB I picked up. Philippe, you may remember this one, I asked you about it right before I purchased it. The past few weeks I have been comparing mine to all the pics I can find in the archives. While I believe the quality of this PAB is exceptional and what you would expect from an early buntmetall award, the die characteristics do not match any other massive small "w" PAB I can find.
The first picture is the obverse, notice the veins in the leaves. On all other massive Wursters, the veins seem to droop, whereas mine are either shorter or do not droop at all. The detailing on the obverse is superb, along with all other Wursters. The only lack of detail area I can find is on the eagles legs. We usually see some striations, but this one has none. Worn out die, possibly.
The second picture is of the back. Notice how mine does not have the die flaw common to most Wursters. It is my opinion that this die flaw probably evolved over time and that there may be some out there that do not have the flaw, but they are rare. I have not been able to find one without the flaw. I have looked at this area with a loop alot and do not see even the slightest beginnings of this flaw. The "w" also appears to be close, but different than others I have seen.
The 3rd picture is of the grass area. It does not appear to be a match for the first or second pattern grass areas normally found on Wursters. It may be a match to the massive zink Wursters, marked KWM, but I cannot find any good pictures to compare. All are too blurry to make a good comparison. If anyone has one and can take some good pics of the obverse for comparison, I would appreciate it.
So, what do we have here? Philippe, any thoughts? Could it be a 3rd pattern?? If it is a match to the zinkers, could it be the missing link right before the transition to zink and a new maker mark? Maybe the die flaw on the reverse at the hinge had gotten so bad that they reworked it, new back and slightly new obverse right before switching to zink??
Or is it a new, high quality fake
.......
Attached are a few pics of a small "w" Wurster PAB I picked up. Philippe, you may remember this one, I asked you about it right before I purchased it. The past few weeks I have been comparing mine to all the pics I can find in the archives. While I believe the quality of this PAB is exceptional and what you would expect from an early buntmetall award, the die characteristics do not match any other massive small "w" PAB I can find.
The first picture is the obverse, notice the veins in the leaves. On all other massive Wursters, the veins seem to droop, whereas mine are either shorter or do not droop at all. The detailing on the obverse is superb, along with all other Wursters. The only lack of detail area I can find is on the eagles legs. We usually see some striations, but this one has none. Worn out die, possibly.
The second picture is of the back. Notice how mine does not have the die flaw common to most Wursters. It is my opinion that this die flaw probably evolved over time and that there may be some out there that do not have the flaw, but they are rare. I have not been able to find one without the flaw. I have looked at this area with a loop alot and do not see even the slightest beginnings of this flaw. The "w" also appears to be close, but different than others I have seen.
The 3rd picture is of the grass area. It does not appear to be a match for the first or second pattern grass areas normally found on Wursters. It may be a match to the massive zink Wursters, marked KWM, but I cannot find any good pictures to compare. All are too blurry to make a good comparison. If anyone has one and can take some good pics of the obverse for comparison, I would appreciate it.
So, what do we have here? Philippe, any thoughts? Could it be a 3rd pattern?? If it is a match to the zinkers, could it be the missing link right before the transition to zink and a new maker mark? Maybe the die flaw on the reverse at the hinge had gotten so bad that they reworked it, new back and slightly new obverse right before switching to zink??
Or is it a new, high quality fake
.......
Frank, don't eat it...I can take it 
Comment