Thanks guy's!
I really like collecting buckles, however the fakes are getting better and have more distribution at the gun shows I've been to recently. Many years ago you could tell a fake buckle by just turning it over and looking at the lock nut attaching the face plate. Now the fakers are taking real WWII buckles, removing a common face plate and attaching the repro of the rare buckle with the correct attachment method ... so be carefull out there. Although I doubt a novice would spend a grand for a belt buckle or brocade without knowing what they are looking at!
However, the repro's of common buckles that sell for $100.00 or under (as originals) are also there
I'll post more photo's when I get a chance to take better pictures, my collection of German buckles is very extensive running from the mid 1800's through WWII. I have many fire police buckles from Hamburg, Berlin, Westfalen, Hessen, Sachsen, Hannover and Braunschweig
Here is a picture of two trade buckles I am very fond of.... and hard to find!
The top buckle is an original night watchman, this buckle is faked very often at gun shows. The second buckle is the chimney sweep trade union
Mark
