Dear fellow collectors. what do you think of these two different eagles?
1/1

1/2

1/3

2/1

2/2

2/3

2/4
Regards,

interesting eagles,,,looks legit from what i can see,,,

I really like the art deco styling of these adlers.

Wotan,

Years ago I had one of the aluminum-type examples. I never considered it to be original and couldn't find any original photos of one being used. I bought it strictly for the aesthetic quality, it certainly is a great design. It reminds me of one the large Reichstag backdrops, but it's still different from any of those. I would think a good original casting would have been of much better quality, like a proper Reichsbahn eagle.

If either of the two is original, I'd have to choose the second darker example. The design is just so much more finished and refined. From here it looks like it has a beautiful original patina, though, you would be in a better position to judge that - the feel and look of the metal would be important to me, too. Have you ever seen one of these on a building or used otherwise? Is there any history or documentation to either of the two patterns?

As an aside, did you take the photographs? The first photo is exceptional, perfect background color and lighting.

I look forward to hearing about what you can tell us from your end. Great birds!

Best!

Bill

Interesting the heads are facing different directions. Killer art deco look.

Thank you very much for looking and writing your opinions! These are appreciated.
Personally I do not know too much about (those) eagles.
First, I am aware of period DOCUMENTATION about the direction of the eagle�s head at least concerning the diplomat�s and the government�s dagger. I dare to assume that this was "common knowledge" at these times and might also be relevant for those wall eagles.
I have to admit that I personally think both eagles to be period but I do not have any hard facts for the one or the other direction. #1 is in my possession since 30, 35 years. #2 is from a kind collector friend of mine. From #1 I did the photographs (WWII thank you so much for your special compliment you already gave to me in the forest dagger thread!). It seems to be an aluminium alloy, too heavy for pure aluminuim.
#2 is cast iron. "Only" natural patination of untreated iron.
I want to emphasize that I never before have seen an identical eagle neither #1 nor #2. So if one or both are fakes I think there would be more than one around. Just my thoughts. I have to add that I have seen similar eagles in one dimension (smaller) in much superior quality an shows which I assume to be fakes.
During the years I have found very few photographs of these certain kind of eagles "in duty". Two photographs (of #2 head direction) are attached, the exact eagle #1 (same head direction) only about 4 times of the dimension of mine can be seen in TTW�s SSbook, page 446.

Eagle of the Kroll opera.

Regards,

Wotan,

I've always enjoyed the large building eagles,
bronze and stone sculptures and those used for large, official meeting backdrops like the two photos that you just added. The one from the Kroll Opera House looks to be related to the two examples at the top of the thread. Art Deco at its finest.

I gathered several original photos of eagles and none ever came close to the Deco models. I saw a total of three that are exactly like your aluminum-alloy example, but never anything close to the second, darker piece which to me is simply outstanding!

There are just so many varieties that were used back then, many were unique and sometimes likely to be one-of-a-kind. If you start to count the hand-carved wooden versions, I'd imagine you could find hundreds, if not thousands of different eagle portraits, like that beauty that Gary found some months back. Tom Wittmann also has a fine wooden example in his Rustkammer that looks to be a nice early, political bird.

Then there was that great metal version that a Czech gentleman just posted in the HJ section, I like the looks of that one, too, and those big monsters that were found on naval ships are simply incredible.

I lent some of my best original photos to a fellow artist some years ago and he never returned them, but I still have a good variety left. As soon as I find them -- I'll add those to your post. I think you might enjoy some of them, a few are very different. Maybe some of the other boys will add some of theirs, it's always great to see something new.

All the best !

Bill

Wotan,

Not the ones I was looking for, but did find these three nice birds. The first photo looks like Hitler's 50th birthday parade - two big Adler in that shot.

The second looks like the big opening/introduction for the Volkswagen.

Best!

Bill

2/2

While there are many styles of eagles being used during the TR era, some distinct differences are from the way the head is faced, the way the wings are raised as well as the overall design.

Sadly there have been no official documents (that I know of) to explain what and when would a certain eagle be used for. One of the more detailed research has been done by Meda but he only focuses on railroad eagles and not those of political insignias.

JMO.