Herm

For what it may be worth, C.J. Labuschagne would in most cases very typically stand for Casper Jeremia(s) Labuschagne - a family branch that often originates in Natal and the Free State south of Bloemfontein. This is not a hard rule, but a reasonable clue as to origin.

It looks authentic to me. The hair loss is because the shields were essentially rawhide without the hair removed. The skin was scraped to remove flesh adn fat and stretched open fresh to dry, and that. I don't think they even salted the fresh skins back then, but I'm not sure. Hair loss is almost standard on such old shields and typically occurs where minute traces of fat remained on the skin. This allows microbial activity which results in hair loss.

It looks authentic to me.