Placing Heads with NBT Data doesn't work.

Regression of MC-1818 ?

Can confirm. Likely an unforeseen issue where player head items being used on the ground takes the "SkullOwner" tag and translates it into the "ExtraType" appropriate tags for the tile entity. Since pick-blocking the tile entity provides the "ExtraType" tile data instead of "SkullOwner", there is no tag to cross-over when the head is placed.

EDIT:

There's been an overhaul concerning NBT data for the skull tile entity. I've updated the wiki page with new tags ("ExtraType" is no longer present), though I don't know what all of them do (hopefully somebody with more knowledge can fill in the holes): http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Chunk_format#Tile_Entity_Format

Makes no difference in the outcome, though.

Still in 14w10a/b

Confirmed.

Confirmed for 14w11b

Actually, I think it's Owner, not skullOwner. As of the 1.8 snapshots.

Confirmed for 14w26c

@Benjamin it can be both, if worn/placed with the old format, it will convert to the new format

Confirmed for

• 1.8

Unable to reproduce in 1.8.8.