Fake 358429?

[Bret4207]

It could well be the cavity looks a little "off" to some of us because the design itself morphed over the decades. Back in the days of hand cut cherries some variation was bound to occur.

 

[Bisley]

Are we sure any and all alterations must have happened at the factory? There's a sizable cottage industry is altering molds without them being "faked" deliberately by some nefarious profiteer (Why you would try to counterfeit a Lyman mold is beyond me). We also have professional services by more established players like Erik Ohlen. What piques my interest is the lesson gained from a customer of high-end tools and machining equipment over 30 years ago. It would not be cost effective for a firm like Lyman, RCBS, SAECO, etc to "redo" a mold from the scrap box. Most likely there would be no scrap box for such reclamation. If somebody messed up a product, simply grab a new set of blanks and start again. My guess is an aftermarket alteration.

But these may also have been handmade molds from the '30s, and this IS Lyman...

 

[358156 hp]

I'm discounting the actual fake angle for a simple reason. It if were fake, I wouldn't have gotten it for a price I was willing to pay. There was a plain vanilla 357446 listed by the same guy in identical condition, right down to the patina, listed at the same price. I passed on the 357446 because I have plenty of examples of this design, including one from the same era as the 358429. This 357429 is still the only one I've ever seen with the original model milled off, then restamped. It's driving me nuts...