RA Restrike Fakes
 

Hi what are your thoughts please as this has the tall orb crown point seen on wrong uns

A standard tall orb fake. Not 100% of them are voided at the far right scroll end giving them the stereotypical notch.

Thanks Luke for confirming

I know I am an older collector but are they really bothering to fake what must be one of the most common British cap badges?

Presumably going to the trouble of attaching 3 lugs and a spinning wheel make the badge more desirable as an "older" piece or a variation of private purchase?

Nothing new with these fakes as they've been around for years.

These are nothing new as magpie says, they’ve been around since the 1970s/80s.

There are some very weird ones in the Marsh catalogues which logically must’ve cost more to manufacture than the original badges were worth.

As well as the standard KC era RA which is the subject of this thread there was also a GviR RASC and RE plus KC ATS and RAF!

What is it that marks these out Luke? these are really common badges, but how does one identify the differences if a fake and a good badge placed side by side? RAF, and Royal Engineers? you would have to be very unfortunate to have picked up some of these!

I’ll do individual posts on each of the above when I have time to highlight a key trait or two of the offending die Martin Marsh used.

I cannot do comparisons with real ones side-by-side as in some cases there must be dozens of genuine dies!

Yes statistically you would be pretty unlucky to randomly buy a RA, RE, RASC, ATS or RAF and it turn out to be Marsh catalogue example.

RASC
 

Not the best catalogue photo of this one but it is sufficient enough to see certain unique details.

Note the very vestigial tail on the letter ‘S’ of CORPS and the large gap between the ‘A’ and ‘L’ of MAL. This demo badge and possibly the one in the catalogue have solid crowns. I also think the jewels in the crown’s band look just a bit too regular as is stereotypical of many of his wares.

RAF
 

A very basic design with lord knows how many genuine manufacturers and die variations out there so the devil really is in the detail here.

The crown again to my eyes betrays it, the rim shape and jewel orientation. I think it looks very similar to the fake 1st Armoured Motor Battery badge also in the catalogue.

The seeding patterns on the RAF monogram is the best method here to match the illustrated badge with the demo. Tip, look for rows, funny shaped ones or clusters, gaps or big dots that catch your eye most. When you find distinctive one(s) compare it to the catalogue photo.

In general being able to compare and distinguish seeding patterns unique to a die I find a very useful technique, but I appreciate this may seem a bit extreme to some.

RE
 

Another poor photo but again it’s still possible to define the die as this one is all about its outline.

Again note the jewels in the crown’s bad too regular, this time all rectangles. The laurel at 10 o’clock pinches inwards noticeably unlike the other side. Between 3 and 5 o’clock the outline of the laurel’s curve is more shallow compared to the other side overall giving it a wonky asymmetrical look,

ATS
 

Last but not least the ATS.

Note the fillet between the crown and top of the T, the jewels again in the crown’s band and the splayed arches. The laurel attachment points to the crown and fillet to the (viewers) right.

Remember as always there are fakes and repros out there beyond the Marsh catalogue example. In many cases his version is the most common but not always the only one on the market e.g. these horrific ‘new’ RASC’s…

So whether it’s just a ‘standard’ badge to the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Air Force or Auxiliary Territorial Service beware there are fakes and repros out there and a bit of due diligence is always needed.

Thank you for posting these examples up Luke.

It’s really helpful to see a photo of an actual badge compared against the poor quality pictures in the Martin Marsh catalogue and I’ve certainly learned a lot from the ones you’ve posted so far. 🙂