Escher? - Afraid I screw up...

While browsing eBay last night I came across this one just a few seconds before it ended, I just had time to see the chalice on the label and throw in a bid in the last second.

Now, when looking at it again I'm starting to worry I might have screwed up as I can't recall seeing this type of label on these boxes before, and the other Eschers I've seen in cardboard boxes also had labeling on the lid.

Can any of you rockhounds tell me how bad I screwed up?

Attachment 110557Attachment 110558Attachment 110559Attachment 110560Attachment 110561Attachment 110562

I've seen that label, as you probably have too, on the thinner stones in the wood box. The box and the size of the stone look 'right' but usually have the wider and longer more familiar label. So it is a shot in the dark. The chalice with E&Co is , as far as I know, from Escher. Just unusual, in my experience, to be with a stone of that size.

It's hard to say but that label is normally in a small wooden box with a 5x1 stone. You might get a nice stone still but you will have to wait and see. I hope it works out for you.

The label seems genuine, whether the stone is an Escher is hard to tell for sure. The measurements of the box are in line with American cut Eschers/Thuringians. Fingers crossed :)

Are many variants with eschers I think.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...one/escher.jpg

Actually, It looks like a Droescher hone to me. Looks like someone took a label out of a 5x1 box or pehaps larger, I can't tell the scale. The only way to know, is to use the hone. Droescher btw, bought and relabeled Escher hones, and look very much like that one. Just as good as Escher. I'll post a pic later.

My Droescher is 5x2 1/2 and my Eshcer Barber's choice is 6x2

As mentioned, many variants with Escher, it may well be one....

Test it!

Like this 1x5.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...cone/Thuri.jpg

Thanks for the input guys.

It's 5x2 so I suppose it's possible it's a Droescher, and if I have understood correctly basically is a re-labeled Escher?

From the look of the stone it self I am relatively optimistic, it looks a lot like my Thuris in color and grain, but I guess I won't know for sure until I get it and get to test it.

I'm not sure what Droeschers go for, but if it really is an Escher I did good, if it's a Thuri I did okay for one of this size, if it's useless I've learned to be a little less trigger happy :)

I also got another stone that I have no clue what so ever what can be, but it was cheap :)

If anyone have a slightest idea of what it can be any input is welcome, I will post some more pics once I get it and have it cleaned and lapped.

Attachment 110579

Hard to say, looks kind of thin the size.
I personally did not believe it was Escher, the box did not look legit to me with the label put on it like that.
Usually that size has the label on the back of the stone. Droeschers are Thuris, and if I am not wrong exported by Escher. They also have the lables on the back, they are labeled Droescher.
Hope your stone is a Thuri and not something of lesser quality

I have written the seller this week . I explained him that the lable belonged to Escher of another size and that he is responsible for naming it "Escher hone" . He wrote that he had sold lots of Eschers and knew what he was selling . Anyway , you can give it him back and write a negative feedback . But I think it is a good stone .

Label has nothing todo with the package. Later add on.
Lets pray you get something decent.
Best Case vintage thuri
Worst Case a crappy synthetic barber hone

Are you even sure it is a natural and not a barber hone?

Honestly, if it turns out to be the worst case (synthetic barber hone) I think you'd be well within your rights to claim false description and ask for a full refund.

There's no point worrying about it until you get it in your hands Rune. Everything before that point is pure conjecture.

James.

Guess all I have to do is wait and see:)

I don't worry too much, luckily the seller offers full refund included shipping if I'm for some reason not satisfied with the item.

It came in the mail today, and with my limited knowledge it seems like it could be legit.

I didn't want to lap it before I'm more certain in case I should make a claim to the seller, I just cleaned it a little with a scrubbing sponge.

Compared to my two Thuris it got a similar graining/pattern and the slurry also looks similar, but I shot some pics of it wet and with slurry so maybe you can help me confirm or discard :)

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/...0e4052a1d0.jpg

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/...c7053c90e3.jpg

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/...c4a07af98a.jpg

Looks like the real thing to me and thuri's are notorious to have that white cloudy slurry Enjoy!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zephyr

It came in the mail today, and with my limited knowledge it seems like it could be legit.

I didn't want to lap it before I'm more certain in case I should make a claim to the seller, I just cleaned it a little with a scrubbing sponge.

Compared to my two Thuris it got a similar graining/pattern and the slurry also looks similar, but I shot some pics of it wet and with slurry so maybe you can help me confirm or discard :)

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looks like a natural rock to me. more clear in a better photo.

It is going to be impossible to say definitively from a photo. Does one side look like it had a label at one time ? Is one side sort of rough hewn, like it was carved out of a deposit ? I've seen a number of eschers that were very uneven and rough under the back label. Does it have diagonal saw cuts on the long sides ? They typically have a certain amount of that.

More importantly, how does it hone ? Do a few razors on it and see how you like it. No matter what we say you'll never be able to prove it is an escher. If it works well for you it doesn't matter what we call it. :chapeau

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

It is going to be impossible to say definitively from a photo. Does one side look like it had a label at one time ? Is one side sort of rough hewn, like it was carved out of a deposit ? I've seen a number of eschers that were very uneven and rough under the back label. Does it have diagonal saw cuts on the long sides ? They typically have a certain amount of that.

More importantly, how does it hone ? Do a few razors on it and see how you like it. No matter what we say you'll never be able to prove it is an escher. If it works well for you it doesn't matter what we call it. :chapeau

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Can we call it Al? Please, please, pretty please :)

The underside is uneven, not like it was carved more as it was hand cut. It also has traces that looks like there could have been a label on it at some point.

The sides, all four of them, are pretty smooth, as if they were lapped.

I would call it Bob. That way if you turn it around it will work just as well:D

So how well does it work?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zephyr

The underside is uneven, not like it was carved more as it was hand cut. It also has traces that looks like there could have been a label on it at some point.

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Hand cut is as good a description of what I was trying to convey as 'hewn'. Here is a photo of two different eschers on which the back labels washed off and were preserved. I don't know if you can see what I mean by the way the back was on those two in the photo but if yours looks like that than "Al" may indeed by an escher. The apparent round spots are from the rubber shelving sheet I lay them on when I hone. The larger varying colored areas are the depressions from the 'hand cutting' referred to. :chapeau

Attachment 111615

It's not so large spots as in those two, but there are obvious uneveness, I can't get a picture that shows it good since my stone is dark, but the spots/lines are a little darker than the rest of the stone, there are also spots that looks like it could be old glue residue.

I also did a closer inspection of the label, it might very well have been put on the box at a later point, but it has for sure been there for decades, and it has no typical signs that it have been removed from something else. But, again it's impossible to tell for sure.

I've lapped it, and will do some razors on it this weekend. I've got a good feeling for it, and if it performes as well or better than my Thuri's I can live with $185 for a better honing size. I've wasted more money than that on more useless things before :)

I've had a number of them come and go though my hands in the last few years. Some were as 'rough hewn' on the bottom as those two while others less so, while still others not at all.

In the photos you posted it looks like it may well be an escher. Once you hone on it you'll know whether it is a keeper no matter what it is.