I looked one of the pins up and translated it in google:
"Empi - Made in China."
Seriously, there is alot of these poping up on craigslist this past 6 months, I smell a repop.
I have personally seen ads for 4 of them in the south east. Figure that at most 1000 were made and given out at the factory for the workers, How many would have to survive allied bombings of worker's homes and factories, then be passed down to family then hauled off the continent so that 4 of them would show up within a 200 mile radius of my house in Ga.
It is incomprehensable.
I used to deal with a caracter in FL who would pay Really Really good money for any sterling silver salt spoons I could find in my pickings for antique furniture to restore, he would create a mould and would hand pore and clean/age the silver to look OEM.
I delt with so many characters like this that I do not believe any thing is old unless I know it's personal history or look for the tale tale marks, I have seen it all on porcelin, Cast iron, brass/bronze, silver and glass.
Any way Buyer Beware.
Cool to own, as long as you know it isn't old.
KC
