Posted by Atame on August 12, 2001 at 09:49:25:
In Reply to: Re: A paradoxon? ...or Ian McColl, how old are you? ;-) posted by Ian McColl on August 10, 2001 at 10:15:54:
Hello Ian,
thank you for the detailed information. :-)
Perhaps I should mention that I'm the proud owner of two Stotz handcuffs. My other one shows all the details (Steve mentioned) speaking for an original - no welding seam, just 5 full key-turns and rectangular notches. This second Stotz came from the same source as my other one, which looks more like a replica (BTW: what's the difference between "replica" and "reproduction"?). At none of these handcuffs I can see any rivets but maybe they are hidden beneath the nickel (or chrome?) finish. The bolt bush in the more-replica-like Stotz is set back approx. 4 mm from the end of the tube, in the more-original-like Stotz (which BTW has a slightly more silver/shiny finish) it's 8 mm in the one and 10 mm in the other tube.
I attach a scan of both Stotz' to this posting. In front of the blue background is the one looking quite original, in front of the green background is the one looking more like a replica. Ian, I send you some pics in higher resolution of these handcuffs. If any other collector is also interested please just e-mail me. Unfortunately I've no digital camera and even not a very good non digital one (no zoom). But I hope these direct-to-scanner-pictures will do.
The interesting question remains why the Stotz was in police use of the Stuttgart city police. The horse you can see on the picture was also stamped on two nippers and two Schutzmarke "Deutsche Polizei" handcuffs, which I purchased together with the Stotz. You might say that the horse-mark was applied to make an imitation looking more original, but the seller didn't know that these were Stotz and so he also didn't know what they might be worth.
Regards,
Atame
PS: sure that I already own my copy of Mr Santini's book "Devices of Human Restraint"