Does it look like and Escher to you?

VINTAGE GERMAN ESCHER SOHN RAZOR SHARPENING HONE STONE - eBay (item 280524854612 end time Jun-29-10 10:42:26 PDT)

item # 280524854612

I am not an expert on Eschers at all, but I have never seen a one that looks like that.
Opinions?

This is tough one. From outside yes it does. But from inside (crack) absolutely not .
Strange.

All of the Eschers I've got, and all that I have had, no matter the length, have been 3/4" thick. This one is described as 1" thick. Other than that I don't know. Another label I hadn't seen before but they apparently varied them. :shrug:

EDIT;

Double checked and I do have a couple that are 7/8" thick.

I am fine with the label, but I am not very sure about the back of the hone, I was under the impression that Eschers are pretty uniform?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mainaman

I am fine with the label, but I am not very sure about the back of the hone, I was under the impression that Eschers are pretty uniform?

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Actually they were not. IME it is not at all unusual to find the back side rough hewn as shown in this thread here. Check out photos 4 and 5 down from the top in which the labels have become detached.

That looks like a partial escher label on the box, but I wouldn't presume it's a genuine label or that it belonged to that box to start with.
And the hone lacks the only attribute that would make it an Escher, a label :)
As far as I am concerned once the label is gone the hone stops being and Escher, unless I personally removed the label from it.

And the seller's distancing themselves from it, by claiming it belongs to 'a friend, who spent a lot of money on it many years ago' doesn't make me confident at all in anything in that listing.

I would agree with Ivan, except in the situation where the hone is (or was) actually glued into a hinged wooden box, and then you would never see a paper label on the back side of the stone, just a label glued to the wooden box, like this one here. My question is this -- does anyone know of examples where Eschers or purported Eschers were sold as stones glued into a labeled, wooden box, as it looks a lot like what that's being offered here. --Jeff

IME, and I haven't seen them all, Escher labels are glued onto the back of the hone. They are sometimes a bit longer than the stone and will go over the ends slightly but never shorter than the stone. I've never seen them where the label was wider than the stone or narrower. They always have been the same width as the stone. I have seen them glued to the back of the stone and to the inside of the lid of the box. IME Escher didn't glue stones into the boxes. You could always remove them. Of course someone along the way could have glued the stone into the box.

Actually, I think Ivan has an Escher that is glued into a wooden box -- I've seen pictures of it on another thread. It's the same size as the small boxed "Genuine Thuringian" hones that you see, except that the label on the inside of the lid has a small "E.&Co." and cup in the middle of the label. I remember it because I have one that has an identical label but no "E.&Co." in the center.

I am with Ivan on this one, especially when the seller "distances" themselves from the responsibility of the product. I believe the box may be an Escher. My biggest concern though is something Sham has brought up. Why isn't the interior of the stone the same as the exterior in color? Strange!

It looks to me that the label was once on the stone and wrapped around the sides - the bits that were on the sides are missing. The box most likely did not come with the stone - it was made for it by someone - probably the same person who removed the label from the stone and stuck it on the box. I'd ask for a photo of the stone on top of the box so I could see the label against it to get an idea if the ragged edges correspond to the sides of the stone.

Regards,
Neil