Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke H
There is no breaking or cracking to the finish suggesting a heavy stamp has been applied latterly after manufacture.
To my knowledge, and I’m happy to be corrected by AA collectors, but unmarked sliders are quite unusual.
This seems an unlikely scenario that you are suggesting, that someone has obtained a scarce unmarked slidered genuine brigade badge and then latterly stamped a fake mark - perfectly centred and parallel - onto the slider, whilst the badge is attached without damaging the finish to the slider or the badge itself?
To make the impression for such crisp lettering a significant amount of pressure will need to have been applied to the MM stamp despite AA being relatively soft. That the badge will need to have been securely held in place whilst this was carried out without damaging it or the finish on the slider is hard to believe.
Can I ask how you know this second mark is fake rather than an alternate potentially later mark?
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The slider surface won't break or crack on A/A or brass as both are too soft. This isn't a case of putting the M&B die on the slider and whacking it with a hammer whilst hoping for the best. The engineering solution is to support the badge in a cradle using a non marking material, without clamping it, inserting a hard wooden shim (plywood is good) between the badge back and the slider to support this and use a small screw press containing the die to make the impression. It is possible to align and centre the die accurately using this method. This simple setup can be made by any small machine shop in about an hour.
I agree that later A/A badges are marked more often than not, older ones less so. I have a number of Para and other A/A badges that aren't.
The main reason I doubt the second mark is an alternate one is that it has appeared on badges for formations that were amalgamated and ceased to exist in the 1960s. The Yorks Bde is a good example. As the first mark was also used in the late sixties I would be surprised if such an overlap existed. The RAOC badges I illustrated each have the different M&B stamps. They are also from completely different dies. This wasn't obvious as I didn't include an image of the front. Leaving aside the two different marks, two completely different badges, from around the same time, would be unusual.