[zorgon]

I have been acquiring suspect Canadian Air Force (1920-24) or CAF 2nd issue collars over the past year or two and would like to bring these to the attention of the Forum. I have four clearly distinct varieties so whoever made these has been experimenting with materials. They give the appearance of cheap plastic to true silver. The dies appear to be of high quality; better than the reproduction sets of 1967 but they don’t match the detail of the originals. The backs also lack the detail but if one isn’t familiar with the issue or doesn’t have originals to compare them too, one could be fooled. The copies illustrated below have a large weight variance; from 4.0 gm to 6.6 gm (without clutch) depending on the composition of the original materials. Some are stiff others can be bent easily. Most of the examples illustrated below have pins and butterfly or military clutch vs. the correct loop (on enlisted varieties) or threaded post (on Officers versions) found on originals. The pins are frail and can easily be broken from the main body and due to the nature of the composition, and neither are the crowns well anchored (one has broken off in my examples). They appear to be made in two pieces, the main body (including the crown and maple leaf) and the “CAF” overlay. The most significant tell-tale indicator is the shape of the crown which is patterned after the design of the Officer's collar crown and designed to be used with the red silk background. One set below has the red material crudely glued on rather than fastened with an overlay. A trained eye will determine it is not the original material but it would fool most people on a cursory glance.

So, beware! I hope these are all of them.