Quote:
Originally Posted by cbuehler
With all due respect, I must strongly disagree it is better than most Indian cast badges. I have been collecting Indian Army badges for over thirty years and have among them only half a dozen or so that would rate on a par with this particular badge. I have had some worse than that, but made upgrades going along. Additionally, none have ever had blades, lugs, or sliders, so poorly attached.
I certainly agree that many badges made during the war, including some by Woodward, are not very well made; I am referring to the standard OR issue die struck badges however.
If the blade on that badge did not have that admittedly original appearing mark, I suspect the badge would have been summarily poopooed.
I am not aware that Lambourne made any cast OSD badges. If I am mistaken, please correct me.
A makers mark does not guarantee authenticity, as we are all aware.
CB
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We will have to agree to disagree when it comes to Indian made badges.
Regards the RE badge, just because something may be summarily pooh-poohed that does not make the pooh-poohing justified or the pooh-poohers correct.
I would suggest looking at those threads I linked and the OSD badges within. If you also look at ‘The BIG Fat Lambourne Thread’ where you will see an Other Ranks RE badge noted as made by Lambournes.
Nozzer and TWGB were the main contributors to the list which is based on good badges held in their collections. I would draw your attention to this badge, wonky cypher n’all, and suggest studying it in detail compared to the badge in the OP.
Without a War & Peace post on the badge and its mark’s physical characteristics v’s known fakes and copies inclusive of comparisons on the various manufacturing techniques that can be used for a period piece v’s later reproduction methods the abridged conclusion are either...
1. The fakers have made a new fake mark matching the period Lambourne stamp (found impressed in the reverse of other Lambourne badges) and applied it to tangs rather than the badge itself. They have also faithfully sought out scarce badges from Lambourne dies to produce these copies from and in this case modified the reverse of the die they’ve produced to give it the die cast OSD look. Finally they have skilfully aged every badge I’ve seen showing no detectable traces of the usual chemical agents used.
Or
2. It’s genuine.
The plausibility of scenario 1 when coupled with the extremely low numbers these badges are encountered to me seems far fetched. But ultimately we all have to make our own judgements based on experience and observations.
One thing I’ve learned on the forum is never ignore a pooh-pooh.