A J Allen (B'Ham) LTD
 

did this "maker" actually make badges or all such stamped items fakes?

I did a search and found a few badges with this maker mark but all seemingly copies except one from the later 30's, the others were great war badges and someone posted that the company did not exist until post WWI and went out of business in 1982.

A previous thread on A J Allan, gives the firms dates as 1941-82
https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ad.php?t=49481

thanks Leigh, this is what I had seen earlier.

I did not find a single image of a badge by this maker on the forum that was not on a fake badge, there was one or two that were mentioned that were thought to be good but no images were shared.

the original of this badge is much less well made than this example, but the dating is correct, originals are late WWII, for this maker?

I suspect it is a duffer, but it seems to be a very rare badge, though no other fakes have been shared here or anywhere that comes up in internet search.

All the cap badge repros marked Allen are rare in their own right, I’ve only ever seen 5 or 6 and in years of looking on eBay every day encountered just 2.

Sadly I’ve no idea if their fakery and marks extends to shoulder titles so cannot help I’m afraid.

But in this case that you’ve not seen another I don’t think counts as a positive, it is a strange thought that some fakes are rare but in the case of Allen that is certainly true - at least regards cap badge.

Also I’ve never seen a genuine British Army cap badge with their mark either.

I found some Police badges with this mark for sale online, but that does not prove anything, as they might be fakes also.

As I already said, I could not find a single image of this maker on a genuine badge, -except possibly the police badges I just mentioned-, but not anything 100% so sadly it seems to be a bad un.

I agree with your deductions. It may be worth asking Dave (altcar73) for this opinion on the marked police badges, albeit as you say that’s still no guarantee.

Still worth keeping IMO. Some advice I read on here years ago was not to discard anything until you’re 110% sure it is indeed a repro. Wise words.

An observation I would make is that the whole mark on your title is more bunched up than the fakes. This may (or may not) be a good sign.

Luke, thanks again.

I had also noticed that same difference apparent between this maker mark and on those previously shared here as fakes.

And of course the badge is very well made, perhaps too good in this case.