EK 1914 Motorhead shows the maker of "square" marked EKs

[Daniel Murphy]

For those of you who do not peruse the '39 EK forum, at my request, Micha has posted his L59 marked '39 EK1s. One is a pinback and one a screwback that are marked L59. That is not unusual. The unusual part is that they are both also marked with a "square". The same kind of mark that is seen on the unknown maker "square" marked 1914 EKs and Imperial aviation badges. Thanks to him we now have a known maker for these pieces. Alois Rettenmaier of Parlerstrasse 27 in Schwabisch-Gmund. Here are the links to the the thread in the '39 EK forum and also to the one he has for sale that I spotted.

Dan Murphy

Micha's EKs

Micha's EK for sale

Edited June 14, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[Rich Yankowski]

Here's my square EK.

[Rich Yankowski]

Reverse.

[Rich Yankowski]

Square.

[Rich Yankowski]

This one looks to be from the same maker,but marked 800 on pin.

[Rich Yankowski]

Reverse.

[Rich Yankowski]

Pin.

[Rich Yankowski]

Front again.

[Gordon Williamson]

The Rettenmeier firm used a range of these additional marks, squares, circles, crosses, the tilde (~) - sometimes erroneously described as an "S", I've even had one with a tiny swastika. They are generally accepted as being a QA mark maybe even identifying specific assemblers/finishers/ quality inspectors within the firm, rather than a maker mark as such.

I'd be a little bit cautious about assuming that the presence of the square on an Imperial EK indicates a makers mark from Rettenmeier. Possible of course, but I don't think its cut and dried yet.