W. R. K. Solingen - Unknown German Darby

You may have seen this Darby on eBay. Now I have to figure out what it is.





The cuff looks like a standard Darby, similar, but different to many British Darbies.

The cuff is very clearly marked W.R.K Solingen.

Solingen is a city in German, famous for knives and swords. More relevant to us Solingen is the home of Clemen & Jung manufacturers of Clejuso handcuffs. The "so" in Clejuso stands for Solingen.

When I first saw the listing on eBay I thought it might be a British cuff just sold through a German company. Now that I have it in hand I can see that there are just too many differences. For example the bottoms of the round lock casings are totally smooth and the swivel is different. I think it was likely made, not just sold in Solingen.

The cuff also has an odd key, but I don't think it is original.

Does anyone have any ideas? Do the initials W.R.K. mean anything to anyone?

thanks
Joe

Hi Joe,

I just mailed to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Solingen, I will post again here, when I hear back from them.

Best wishes,

Michael

Michael

Thanks very much. I hope they have some ideas.
Joe

Hello Joe,

today I was informed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that a company, to which these letters would fit, is not registered. Sorry I could not help in this matter.

Best wishes,

Michael

Michael

Thanks for checking. My guess is that we will eventually figure out where they came from. It just may take some time.

Joe

I just did the obvious experiment of searching for "W.R.K" on eBay. I got a hit! #6624070277. It is a knife or sword with the same marking "W.R.K Solingen"

So where will this lead?

Joe

Here is what I have found:

In 1883 the Weyersberg company joined with the company of W.R.Kirschbaum & Cie{C.R. Kirschbaum 1848-1858,W.R. Kirschbaum 1876-1883,and Kirschbaum & Bremshey 1858-1876(who used the right hand 'Knight's head' logo on my bayo),to form the company of Weyersberg/Kirschbaum & Cie(or W.K.C. for short)}.The next bayo that's coming had the King's and Knight's heads logo over W.K.C.Sometime,after 1918 I believe,W.K.C. changed the logo to just the Knight's head over W.K.C..
BTW:I got this info from John Walter's book "The sword and bayonet makers of Imperial Germany 1871-1918",it's only about 210 pages long and was printed in1973,but it's a wealth of good information.


Joe