Why make a bad fake?

[mtrpltpara]

"Plus I'm sick of seeing bits of my work sold as originals on ebay. I get tarnished as making a fake when it's somebody else exploiting items I've made as clear reproductions for a fraction of the price they sold for. I must have seen at least 6 gorget plates in the last 4 years asking in the £700+ mark when I sold them for around £70"

If people have paid that much for `clear reproductions` then caveat emptor applies, surely you dont produce the fastenings to look original?

Regards,
Bill

[Neibelungen]

surely you dont produce the fastenings to look original

Not exactly, but usually will follow the methodology of an original, ie, pins, footed shanks, bolts. Usually with a modern material or a metric thread. Sometimes a wire loop is required for something early.

The big difference is I will make it as new and not put 200 years or wear and patination into it.
Bowl of ammonia or live yogurt and pot of peat is all it takes though.

That's the deliberate fraud of a fake.

Incised or raised maker and date marks can all still be errased with a little effort and a dremel. !!!

[mtrpltpara]

Hello Neibelungen, the more i read your posts on this thread the more i am inclined to give up badge collecting. Its bad enough now with collectors being unsure if they have a guddun or not, give the repro guys 10 or 20 years and we will all be stuffed. The seventies started the ball rolling but as technology advances they are going to be able to fool everyone, its really the end of it. I wouldnt even rely on provenance: a guy sold medals to a Leeds Pal who was his Grand father, they were framed and had the capbadge, guy said the frame hadnt been opened in living memory: the capbadge had long legs!!! enough said.

Regards,
Bill

[Neibelungen]

It's like all collecting, whenever something accrues a value because of scarcity and not the value inherent in the object, there will be fakes to cash in.

Badges are easier than most because it's essentially a simple mechanical and engineering process and modern technology has replaced some or most the difficult hand crafted element.


There have been restrikes and fakes in militaria for the last 150 years and the whole of the antique market is littered with them, not just badges.


The victorians were big on reproduction suits of armour. The 1900's saw a revival of 18th C furniture. The 30's elements of Arts and Crafts furniture, The 70's a vogue for all the earlier and so on till today.

THe big difference is that TV and the internet has turned it into a money item and not just a collecting passion.

OR, to look at it the other way, if everybody gave up collecting , then there would be no value in making fakes. !!!

[Alan O]

The irony is that the amount of fakes has so depressed the market that an original badge can often be bought for less money than the reproductions. By faking badges the fakers have put such doubt in people’s minds that their value has been reduced so that the faker’s profits are reduced effectively killing the goose that laid the golden egg.