RMF Cap Badge-Friday Afternoon or Fake
 

This cap badge came on a cap that belonged to a RMF casualty. Its been in another collectors hands for 30 odd years. It has been badly miss-struck and the tiger miss-applied. The Tiger is not a fatty compared to other originals I own. So its either a Friday afternoon badge or a fake that the previous owner added to the cap.

Opinions welcome.

Mark

Looks fine to me.
Tony.

I have always regarded this type of RMF as wartime manufacture due to the lack of finesse to the design and poor quality construction. Nonetheless 100% genuine.

Luke, Tony,

Thank you both for your expertise.

Kind regards

Mark

A decade ago I was discussing RMF badges with a old dealer. He had bought a box of RMF badges in the 1960's still in their paper wraps with a contract note for a Irish company sub-contracted by Gaunts. He said they were all such poor quality and you could bend them in half. period badges but wartime subcontracted to companies that had not mad badges before so poor quality compared the peacetime.

I have one very similar (or had?) With solder visable, but had the holes to rear - as you say a Friday special!

All the best billy

Mine is similar but has the added bonus of no braze in one braze hole and WM tiger overlay has slipped in construction with the consequence being you can see straight through the middle of the badge!

Alan makes a good point. I do get shivers up the spine wondering just how many good badges have been binned over the years by dealers and collectors alike because a badge is a bit flimsy or looks a dogs dinner.

Reasonably recently I got lucky with that lot of ‘20 restrikes’ from Lew Shotton which contained a genuine Inneskilling (sic) Fusiliers and 2nd type King’s Colonials amongst others. Imagine if they’d have been binned! More shivers down the spine.

I believe it was P.B. who said some of the wisest words I’ve ever read on this forum about not disposing of a ‘fake’ badge until you’re 110% sure it is a repro and even then be sure to think twice.

Friday afternoon specials
 

I have badges in my collection that are badly struck, dodgy looking sliders and are what most people turn their noses up as being wrong for whatever reason.

However, when these have been given to you by a WWI or WWII veteran what can you say?

They may have replaced them in the past, but why?

They have now given them to you because you have shown interest, so no financial gain for them.

Badges were worn as to signify the unit the recipient served with, not for something to be collected in the future.

However, fakers, restrikers, whatsoever have copied these badges for profit, and no other reason, but before you take a hammer or angle grinder to the badge you think is wrong place it in a box marked "?"

Never say never

Rob

Here is another Irish clunker. Note the horrible POW feathers, off center application and off center slider as well. Must have had a few too many the night before. But a perfectly original badge with two braise holes under the slider.
Both world wars turned out some pretty poor badges.

CB

Even the crimp mark seems to have had a hard night!

Rob

Are you leaving the badge on the cap or replacing it with a better quality one?
(I'm not suggesting that you fit a different badge, just wondering).

Just out of interest, what sort of cap was it, did it show any signs of ever having another badge upon it and where is it now?

Here is the cap. I am not replacing the badge it’s part of its history.

Lovely cap and badge. 100% agree.

The only thing I’d be tempted to do is a slightest dab of WD40 on the verdigris to stop it progressing further and possibly damaging the badge in time.

Agreed.