SS Belt Buckle Opinions needed...

[Waffen-Mike]

Hello

I may be able to purchase this SS Buckle in the near future. It looks original to me, however I am looking for opinions as to originality from the forum. I will also be posting two other SS items for review on the SS thread very soon, so take a look. Many thanks and best regards.

Mike

[Waffen-Mike]

The reverse...

[Waffen-Mike]

A close up of the maker mark...

[Waffen-Mike]

One more of the obverse...

[Jean Pierre Redeuilh]

One more of the obverse...

Original

[Chad Williams]

looks great

[Waffen-Mike]

Thanks Jean and Chad. I believed this was good, but just wanted reassurance.

Best Regards
Mike

[tinmantis]

that's a beauty, and awesome pics too!

[Hermsdorf SEALS]

Looks good!

But be aware-I just saw a new type of aluminium reproductions from czech republic and they come very very close to the real thing!

[sunny59]

Last Reich

Hi guys, Im new here, collecting for 20 years and can't understand why took me so long to join the forum. Sorry for this. Will appreciate any recomendation on "Last Reich" site. Some good stuff [SS] at least thats what I think. Need some help please.

[Richard]

Original

Jean Pierre, I noticed the the RZM mark has the inner circle completely closed below the M, something that I understood was never a variant of the mark. Additionally the R in the mark breaks through the inner circle as well, something else that I would view with suspicion. I'm not very familiar with SS buckles, moreso the RZM markings so I can't make a definitive call on the buckle itself. Do all originals that you have seen have these same issues with the RZM mark?
Richard V

[Jean Pierre Redeuilh]

Jean Pierre, I noticed the the RZM mark has the inner circle completely closed below the M, something that I understood was never a variant of the mark. Additionally the R in the mark breaks through the inner circle as well, something else that I would view with suspicion. I'm not very familiar with SS buckles, moreso the RZM markings so I can't make a definitive call on the buckle itself. Do all originals that you have seen have these same issues with the RZM mark?
Richard V

What you saw is correct. You can also notice the R, the Z and the M linked together. All those are correct features for this variant (so far a total of 3 distinct variants were made by maker 822 in 1938) and instead not having those could be a concern.
I don't know if the ring closing the legs of the M was intentional (present on the die) or just an excess of aluminum going there during the stamping process. Some same buckles have it much more faded. Still there but not as thick as the rest of the ring.
The same could also apply to the z crossbar. Some specimen of this variant have an obvious crossbar, some others have it so tiny that one could ask if there was any. So ...

[Richard]

Thanks for the information Jean Pierre. Without knowing this, I would have passed up a buckle like this simply because the RZM mark didn't look right to me.
Richard V

[Jean Pierre Redeuilh]

Thanks for the information Jean Pierre. Without knowing this, I would have passed up a buckle like this simply because the RZM mark didn't look right to me.
Richard V

I would also probably had some concerns myself if I did not know this variant perfectly.
This is the reason why it is wise to prove an item is original (or fake) before calling it original (or fake) based only on his/her past experience (whatever past experience could be).