If anyone is interested, here's the opinion of an Australian military badge collector with many years of experience, but he also states that WW1 strikes are not his specialty. If he's on this site, I don't think he'd mind me posting his reply as I've kept it anonymous.
"There's every likelihood that the brown one has been doused in copper patina. Not that the colour itself means that it's a fake... a villain who was trying a bit harder, could easily have darkened it out. So, if it is a fake, they haven't picked a patina which would look 'run of the mill' and attract less attention. Having said that, both the slider itself (plus it's maker's mark) and the crown strike area (without the MM), does make it look like a repro from my perspective... would be more familiar with WWI strikes than I am... and I am aware that period items are certainly not commonly double MM'ed either. Nevertheless, my vote is the brown one is a repro... certainly I wouldn't buy it over the properly aged 'black' one with the double MM."
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