Fake Nuremberg desk eagle

[mloppkit]

I notice that a couple of these birds have sold recently. At first glance they look like an impressive, estate-cast Kurt Schmid-Ehmen Nuremberg eagle. Closer examination shows heaps of casting flaws & what appears to be a bogus KS-E marking. In my humble opinion, these are cheap recasts and buyers should be very careful when buying them. The original KSE bronze birds have none of these casting flaws and I don't believe Kurt Schmid-Ehmen would put his name on any such poor quality casting.

Cheers,
Michael

[mloppkit]

A closer look at the casting flaws. None of the originals I've seen before have had these.

[J. Wraith]

That is a real bird done in the immediate post war for the Ehmen estate and papered by his wife in limited numbers, there are a couple fakes out there or at least one questionable example but this one is original. The period examples of which I think 2 are known are not perfect either but better in quality than the post war examples. Their documented pieces and not meant to be looked at under a microscope, a couple things to look for on these of course I will not mention them.

[mloppkit]

That is a real bird done in the immediate post war for the Ehmen estate and papered by his wife in limited numbers- J. Wraith

Thanks for the reply J. Wraith. I appreciate your comments and will have a closer look at the differences in these birds. At the moment I still believe that there is a good chance this one is a fake. I notice even Hermans wouldn't guarantee this one as an original when they sold it in their last auction. Could it at least possibly be a later cast copy of one of the real immediate post war Ehmen estate birds you refer to? The quality seems a world away to me from any of the half-dozen estate casts we have seen- such as the one Hermans sold earlier and did guarantee below.

Cheers.

[J. Wraith]

Thanks for the reply J. Wraith. I appreciate your comments and will have a closer look at the differences in these birds. At the moment I still believe that there is a good chance this one is a fake. I notice even Hermans wouldn't guarantee this one as an original when they sold it in their last auction. Could it at least possibly be a later cast copy of one of the real immediate post war Ehmen estate birds you refer to? The quality seems a world away to me from any of the half-dozen estate casts we have seen- such as the one Hermans sold earlier and did guarantee below.

Cheers.

M,

Your timing for this post was just off as I had 6 of them on my desktop yesterday and deleted 3 of them before your post. This last auction and the bird you show here with the verdigris patina should be o.k, a prior auction had an example on a non standard base with a silver finish and that fell well short of market. The one I had encountered had the paperwork from the wife and the cast was not perfect but the patinas and the photographs play tricks as well.

The auction house does not always shoot the same photos on different auctions and a couple are repeats, yet I think out of the 6 one was a knockoff or played with for sure, I would actually have to pull the birds back down again and Imwas looking at something else. I do not think the first bird posted is bad, nor is this last one and both would be estate casts and done in the early 50's or should be. So one bird is a standout problem and the others seemed o.k but the casts on these are not like they were in the early 30's. And some humpers are showing themselves in auction catalogs, not just birds. I still have 3 on my desktop including this last one and will have to go back to the description on this one but I notice auction houses in general getting a little more generic in their descriptions on many things now. They all know this market is problematic and some are better than others. I see what your looking at on the first cast but it is magnified.

[J. Wraith]

O.k,

I have 2 period casts of 3 that I know of and 4 estate casts to work with here. I have the Verdigris patina bird you show last but do not remember where I got the photo from and only have the one photo.

Hermanns # 64 Lot # 6289. I have no clue what this is supposed to be, estate or period cast? apparently they don't know either but a couple problems there for sure if period or estate.

Hermanns # 69 Lot # 6240 Estate cast best I can tell from the photos.

Hermann's # 53 is the Verdigris bird and its no longer up for additional photos but looks like a cool bird.

Each and every one of these is slightly different whether a period cast or estate cast. A couple features are different from the original casts to the estate casts and those should be in line. Without several photos of each it gets to be difficult and I am not prepared for that demonstration. But the photos can be deceptive, the patina can hide both detail or flaws, and magnification can ruin your day. When all is said and done you need to be careful just the same and there is a reason auction houses are running loose with descriptions.