Chris
I first saw this thread about half way through and held off commenting as in a way I could see what was coming. As the person who provided the information to ArnhemJim I thought I had better comment as it seems that the provided information is now being taken out of context.
I am not, and never have been an expert on RND badges, I merely strive to improve my knowledge and if I can pass on anything useful that I have picked up to others then I am happy to do so but I (usually) always state at the time that it is my own personal opinion, it is there for others to use or leave as they please. When I first sent the information to Jim I also sent a short email, an extract from that email is – “These are the main things I look for in a genuine badge and they will identify about 95% of the fakes pretty quickly but there are other subtle differences if it's a close call”. Perhaps I should get him to amend his blog to say “what to look for in a fake Gaunt RND badge”, I am happy to do that as I have always believed that there was more than one manufacturer, but the vast majority of fakes seem to be modelled on the Gaunt patterns.
The reason there is only one “genuine” badge of each Bn pictured in the blog is because I only have one of each, I do not need more than one and will not stockpile such an expensive commodity. My observations however were not based merely on one badge. I have a lot of pictures of RND badges from dealer’s websites (good and bad), auctioneer’s websites etc, I have been through the Royal Naval Museum’s reserve collection of RND badges (have handled them and photographed them) and have corresponded with other RND collectors – I do not own the copyright for any of those pictures so I am therefore unable to use them for the purposes of Jim’s blog.
Earlier this year when the prices of RND badges went crazy there were 2 Drake badges that sold for over £400 each, both of those badges (IMHO) were genuine Gaunt badges, what if they had been obvious fakes and been purchased by a forum member who had asked for opinions on here? I would rather have given my opinion at the time for the right reasons than bury my head in the sand and see someone lose a lot of money. I would feel guilty if someone missed out on a bargain because my opinion was incorrect but I would feel a whole lot worse if they had wasted a lot of money on something that was obviously wrong and I could have steered them away from it.
You have a set of RND Bn badges which are not maker marked (bar one), collected in the 1920s and purchased by you in the 1960s, why don’t you make up a similar table with pictures of your badges so that others can see the differences between Gaunt badges and those by other manufacturers with provenance, thus arming them with even more information to beat the fakers.
As I said earlier, I am not an expert, I collect RND badges but they are not my only interest and I have been collecting other regiments/arms etc for approx 35 years, I like to think I can spot the most obvious fakes and if I can help others with the information I have gained then I will try and do so rather than keep that information to myself, like the vast majority of collectors it is done for the right reasons.
Merry Christmas
Paddy
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