SS nickle Overhoff with a difference .. ?

[Winkelman]

Recently found this nickle Overhoff buckle , in relic corroded condition with pinroller setup completely missing , but it was very cheap .

Now what bothers me , is that the soldered on CATCH is > magnetic .
Only the catch , not the buckle itself .

So far , I have been able to find only 1 other example online , that does not have a standard brass catch .
Also there are remains of green paint & red primer .. ?!

Could it be that it left the factory later than normal , with a steel catch ?

Or is it a repro after all ?

This one really has me puzzled , thanks for all help .. !

[Winkelman]

Reverse ;

[Winkelman]

It does have the correct 45 mm. width for this type , here are a couple of pictures next to another nickle Overhoff ..

[Winkelman]

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[Winkelman]

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[Winkelman]

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[Winkelman]

Red paint .. ?!

[ivanjoaquin]

I think that it is an early nickelsilver Overhoff buckle, the front is cleaned, the reverse has the typical reddish colour of the nickelsilver ground dug buckles, the magnetic catch is seldom seen but it is correct

[Winkelman]

Thanks for the fast reply - if steel catches existed on these , that is already good news !
And red nickle-oxyde would be more logical for a ground dug than red paint ..

[Guido L.]

I disagree!
In my eyes the catch belongs, howsoever, not original to the buckle.

Nickle silver is way more resistant against oxidation than steel. This is the reason why you will find nearly all ground dug nickle silver buckles in quite good condition but without claw and pin shroud construction or latter heavily corroded.

In this case we have a corroded nickle silver buckle with a barely corroded catch. It sounds not logical that they were together since production. What do you think?

[ivanjoaquin]

It is much more difficult and laborious to weld a new catch than to add an Overhoff post prongs assembly of any denazified buckle, if you want to fix a buckle
what is not logical is to do only the hard work

[Ric Ferrari]

.....Nickle silver is way more resistant against oxidation than steel. This is the reason why you will find nearly all ground dug nickle silver buckles in quite good condition but without claw and pin shroud construction or latter heavily corroded.

In this case we have a corroded nickle silver buckle with a barely corroded catch. It sounds not logical that they were together since production. What do you think?

Good point

Ric

[ivanjoaquin]

There is no reason to add a new catch to a ground dug buckle, this would not increase its value

[Ric Ferrari]

There is no reason to add a new catch to a ground dug buckle, this would not increase its value

I agree, but sometimes counterfeiters reveal a surprising stupidity

Ric

[Winkelman]

Thank you all for taking an interest in this thread .. !

I will take more pictures of the catch , I am quite confident that it wasn't replaced - it's oxidation matches the rest IMO .

I was however curious if steel catches are known at all on any other nickle O & C buckles ?