Who is the maker?

[musketeer]

A friend of mine has a WH- ALU buckle with the maker written in capital letters. L. K. O.
Can anybody tell me the full makers name?
Thanks so lot.

[David North]

Could the marking be F. K. O. and not L. K. O. ?

May the Forum be provided with images ?

Regards,

David

[musketeer]

No, definitely L.K.O.

I cannot upload photos..sorry

[Peter H.]

hello,
here is the pic from the buckle
greetings peter

[lauriston]

Hello

Nobody ? My 1937 L.K.O. Heer buckle (rest unreadable) :

http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=o8sygj
http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=o8syn4
http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=o8sys9

Thanks.

[boyouLaGleize.]

Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft vorm
Ehrhardt und Schmer
Saarbrucken.
It's maybe this factory.

[lauriston]

Thanks Boyou (le monde est petit!).

[boyouLaGleize.]

Yes you can say that.

[Kurt Doench]

None of the initials L.K.O. seem to match any part of that company's name . Also, Maschinenbau would translate as "construction of machinery", referring to a company that produces equipment used to make the actual products, but does not make the products themselves.

BTW, does nobody get a queer feeling looking at the buckle shown by Peter H.? Reminds me very strongly of that series of awfully good aluminium buckles around for some time now. But of course. I may be wrong here.

Regards, Karl

Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft vorm
Ehrhardt und Schmer
Saarbrucken.
It's maybe this factory.

[Kurt Doench]

Deleted accidental double post.

[boyouLaGleize.]

I translate the same like you,but I don't find other way.

[regiment739]

Hi mate I have seen a buckle with the same mark for sale on one of the dealers websites, I will try and find it and let you know what it is or send you the link

Ben

[musketeer]

Sory for my delay...I've found out the maker..
LOUIS KELLER OBERSTEIN...
I've now an original buckle marked L.K.O. with a leather tab in my database..and the leather tab is stamped
Louis Keller Oberstein.

[musketeer]

None of the initials L.K.O. seem to match any part of that company's name . Also, Maschinenbau would translate as "construction of machinery", referring to a company that produces equipment used to make the actual products, but does not make the products themselves.

BTW, does nobody get a queer feeling looking at the buckle shown by Peter H.? Reminds me very strongly of that series of awfully good aluminium buckles around for some time now. But of course. I may be wrong here.

Regards, Karl

Karl...this buckle belongs to a friend of mine..peter shows only the photo..and you can be sure..it is not a copy, have you ever seen one of the new alu copies..with this makers mark?
And I think you know him also..he lives in Bremen..and this buckle he own since years.

[Kurt Doench]

Congratulations on identifying this maker!

Possibly I'm getting paranoid, but the buckle looks just like a certain series of really excellent fakes that are (or used to be) openly sold as reenactors' equipment by specialised American suppliers to that scene. Many different types were displayed online (Heer, police, RAD, HJ etc.), with a number of different manufacturer's markings, but all constructed absolutely identically. When I last revisited the site, all the mint condition photos were gone and replaced by pics of heavily weathered examples, making recognition somewhat harder.

Yes, I know the buckle's owner, but with all due respect, ownership of an item by a particular collector, however advanced, hardly by itself constitutes proof of originality. Anyway, if this is, as it purports to be, an original service buckle, someone must have taken great pains to remove all trace of the field grey paint on an otherwise seemingly mint condition buckle!

Kind regards, Karl

Karl...this buckle belongs to a friend of mine..peter shows only the photo..and you can be sure..it is not a copy, have you ever seen one of the new alu copies..with this makers mark?
And I think you know him also..he lives in Bremen..and this buckle he own since years.