[JazzManCan]

Found this piece on ebay just now, had to take a double take as I thought it was one of the rare triple ring pieces but upon closer inspection of the photos it's clearly a master link with an aftermarket extended shank. Wonder why someone would have gotten that done... possibly for needing to pull out farther on the cork and needing more shank material to do so for tuning reasons? Check it out!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Otto-link-...018184?hash=item1a80152188:g:QkcAAOSwN2ZdK6Zb

 

[Guto]

My theory is that this was a manufacturing reject because of the double stamping of the logo (seen on the closeup picture). And for that reason the extended shank was never cutout - just my personal guess

 

[mrpeebee]

Funny piece JMC, never seen one like that before.

I think you are right about the shank (links are two half's casted together, as far as I know they didn't remove material from the shank as Guto suggests).

 

[turf3]

The extended part looks like the rest of it, in plating, surface finish, and everything. I would guess that the raw castings had that part cast long, for chucking during machining, and then cut off, and for whatever reason this one didn't get cut off. Just a guess, of course.