McKENZIE MITTS Copy ?

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

They are sheet metal Mitts, but not McKenzie Mitts. If you compare them to pics of the real thing they aren't close. I did an article in the 2007 Handcuff Annual with lots of pictures of the real Mitts, and there are pictures on my CD.
www.handcuffsandbadges.com
Stan

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

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Hi,

the description was in german but it clearly stated that these were hand-made mitts, made several years ago, there was nothing indicating that they should be original McKenzies...

I have no idea who won them, but I really think someone bidding that high would be able to see the difference to a McKenzie one. I also was surprised the price went that high - but don't forget that the $ is relatively weak in the moment, so $700 is more to you than EUR 500 is over here...

Martin

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Do we know whe ended up with them ?

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Do you have a link to the seller?

Thank you

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

The item number was 190175837902

The seller's eBay id was david_1974

Hope this helps.

Mark (RMP)

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

real mckenzies are going to have the year 1925 on them and if the owner had several pairs they are probly fake because they only made 90 some of them

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Actually that is quite incorrect. If it has a marking it will say PATENTED MARCH 10-25. There are some that have the markings on one, both or not at all. In regards to 90 being made...please inform us how you came to that number. On a side note there is one Mitt seen in an old photo that closely represents the copy that is in the above photos.

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Hello all

God this sort of thing BURNS ME !!!!

As an Entertainer that performs at a Renn faires when time permits (and O What Fun !!!) I have see knockoff of the MMitts
along with , various one of a kind weapons , hand made locks, hemlets ets ...so this is not surprising .

Welcome to the future guys the Chinese and india are knocking this stuff out by the Truck loads !!!.. Still i believe that the company that was making these MMs was in fact a metal fabracating plant right her in the good ol US of A !

As a matter of interest a some one had posted on HC.org that they had located a company who was making MMs.....dont believe it was that long ago.
Im on the road for the next 3 weeks but if/when time permits i'll attempt to locate these deadbeats. Now the other side of this coin is Any one has the right to "Free Trade in the US .

If indeed the seller attempted to 'Move" them as ther "Real thing" well then that a whole other kettle of fish and if there ebay AD called the MMs then they were Very Aware of what they had .

Sadly in the long run $700 is not that bad as it very well could have been the the Thousands of Dollars. ! (Still a hard lesson to learn )

My gut feeling is this IS suspect and should be reported ASAP !! as there may be Many more in the upcomong months.

ML

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Calm down Micheal, you don't know anything about the cuff and where they came from and remember America is Chinas biggest customer, so when you hang your xmas tree and likely wave a flag it's likely to have been made in china. China already owns you.

If you don't like imports, don't buy them.

Ian

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

This thread is 3 years old. Calm down.
The REPROS were not cheap, or Indian or Chinese and are a legitimate Product.

I'd like to hear more from Tom. he may know something that we don't know about the real Mits.

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

I too would like to hear his reference of about 90 being made. That is a question that has long been around. I've heard many numbers been suggested but nothing with any references. I was simply correcting the mention to the markings in case someone reads this 3 years down the road. In regards to the reproductions, I believe they fail in comparison to the real deal. The actual Mitts would be near impossible to copy as Ian can tell you. They took special custom made dyes and I believe I was told it would take at least 6 different ones. In my opinion the copies are like comparing an original Picasso to a reproduction paint by numbers bought from Wal-Mart. With that said I could'nt build them and I even suck at paint by numbers.

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

There is a market and buyers for these who may not even care if they are the real thing or not.

People have been buying replica or reproduction handcuffs, sports cars, works of art, Houdini posters, etc, for years now.

Some folks would not dream of shelling out thousands for the real thing but may be perfectly happy to have something representative of the real thing.

To fly off the handle and imply some sort of vendetta against the maker of the mitts seems a bit over indulgent and self righteous to me.

If people want a replica of anything they will likely find one.

As long as the makers of any such things are not willfully misrepresenting them as the real deal it is no harm, no foul.

S.S.

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Copperfield didn't mind with the replica WTC

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

Bad example, Copperfield is an idiot.

I recently came across what at first glance appeared to be a pair of McKenzie Mitts on eBay. Never having been a huge fan of McKenzie’s, it took a few seconds to make my mind up but I'm sure they are just a copy but a good copy none the less. The listing for them was is in German and from what little of my school boy German I can remember it appears as if the seller may have several pairs.




The bidding started low but with an hour to go the bids increased and they ended up selling for around US$ 700. A bargain if genuine but a little costly if the winning bidder thought they were the real.






Has anyone seen these before and can someone please confirm they are reproduction? If so beware of bargain McKenzie Mitts.

Click to expand...

HI,
I've been researching the McKenzie mitts quite extensively, with the assistance of another handcuff collector whose posted on this thread. I will hopefully be bringing
copies of a small book about them to Indianapolis, IN lock convention in April. While I left a great deal of questions unanswered, I did answer a great deal of questions as well. It's my belief they were not even made until 1933. I have a fair amount of circumstantial evidence to support this claim. I know how and where they were sold, by whom, and have 42 newspaper articles documenting this, as well as information from relatives of Jacob McKenzie. I have family photos of McKenzie, and a lot of other information as well. I have a number that I uncovered of how many pair were made, but cannot verify that as of yet. It is significantly higher than 90 too. I, too, would love to know where the number 90 came from. I've documented only 42 pair that definitely 100% exist now, although I'm sure more are out there we have not found yet. I need some research done at the Denver, CO library, and if anyone is in Denver I'd love to hear from you in hopes you'd be willing to put in a little time at the library. Also, they were probably not made by McKenzie. Two other parties are involved, one A. L. Elliot and one A. G. Jacobs, both of Denver, which all evidence leads me to believe that is where they were made.
Just one tidbit from a family member; Jacob McKenzie was a sheriff in Kansas and while placing a handcuffed prisoner into a car the prisoner grabbed Jacob's gun and shot him in the leg. Two family members told this same story, although as of yet I cannot find any supporting evidence of this in newspapers.
They were NOT marketed as McKenzie Mitts, but were given that name by Dick Norman in his book Modern Handcuff Secrets, 1957. Prior to that they were known
as "Steel Mittens" or "metal mitts". Anyone with any solid stories of the mitts I'd love to hear from you.
Questions unanswered: No supporting evidence they were used on trains and were "too good" so they were taken off the market. Exactly who made them, and where? Do the Dies still exist?
How much did they cost new? Thanks, John Bushey