One thing to be taken into consideration regarding all of the eagles out there to be reproductions is if that were the case, where are the real ones?
I mean, if GIs brought home flags, daggers, rifles, helmets, etc..., there has to be someone out there who brought home these duffle bag sized really cool interesting, and durable souviners. Esp when the available supply of flags and more desirable items ran out.
Picture yourself on the spot, of course not realizing the full potential of certian items, but as a GI with an interest in collecting. Esp if you were in occupied Germany a few months into the occupation when these items were being dismantled. There had to be literally stacks of then, and not only in Germany, but everywhere a train was abandoned or destroyed.
I'm not necessarily claining mine to be authentic, but it would stand to reason that there should be enough in this country as to run into one every now and again.
One more point before I shut up, is that, just as in the case of daggers, different makers, the rising, then declining need for these items, as well as compounded hardships on the manufacturing plants during the course, many discrepencies would show up over the period of manufacture.
