My friend, Big Norm, was brave enough to bring this AE Fat Barrel along to the recent SOS show to get others' opinions on the piece.
Along with such bravery does come the risk of receiving some bad news, though.
Several advanced collectors and one prominent dealer whom had a chance to see the FB in person seemed to agree this was a nicely done refinished piece and Norm shared it came out of the certain MN luger shop.
I shared my observations with Norm on this piece as well. I was most troubled by the lack of "cut" of the polished safety area and that the new polished area was a bit "fuzzy" in shape and maybe a bit too narrow as well. The straw also did not look like it was 100+ years old as well. There were no "halos" on the Germany stamping if I recall.
This is difficult news for a luger collector to receive, but Norm did other, less-experienced collectors a great service by bringing this piece "out in the light of day", allowing advanced collectors a chance to critique it and letting the beginning collectors around the table a chance to learn. And to know the supplier of this piece.
My thanks to Norm for this !!!
