I'm back just for a quick update for any people that are interested.
Peter Garratt's book 'The Secrets of Collecting Rhodesian Para Wings & Selous Scouts Insignia' is starting to get some meat on the bones.
Two new things he has discovered including a variation of the unused APJI wing.
The book will be the most comprehensive book on the subject ever printed including detailed photos of the items and explanations on why they're genuine. He is of the belief that makers of Rhodesian fakes have never produced a fake that can be mistaken as genuine if you know what to look for.
He is also one of the few that know all of the stampings used on the Selous Scouts officer's insignia. His collection of Rhodesian para wings, PJI brevets and AD wings was the most comprehensive that has ever been collected by one person.
He will give his advice on buying and bidding online, the pros and cons of the internet for collectors and also his opinion on forums. He has been on the net for some 24 years and he has extensive experience with it and the vast majority of his collection was bought online.
Even though the book will be mostly about the militaria, he has said he will expose known dealers of Rhodesian fakes and proof that they knowingly dealt in fakes. His experience many years ago of compiling evidence to be used against people in criminal courts held him in good stead as he kept files over about 15 years of major dealers of Rhodesian fakes.
I think he said he was going to also name people who he deemed as unscrupulous and why.
I know a bit but not all of the details yet. I'm helping more with the structure of the book.
The person in the photo wearing an SAS beret and badge and circled in red was a person that Peter exposed even though they were living in England in 2008.
That person is wearing a Rhodesian Bronze Cross of Rhodesia, Rhodesian General Service Medal and the South Atlantic Medal.
They were well known to each other online with Pierce (the seller of fakes) telling him about his exploits in the UK SF's, Rhodesian SAS and then the Recces. In the meantime he was selling fakes on ebay. A fascinating twist was when Peter was contacted by a former British serviceman (SBS) who lived nearby to Pierce and that started the ball rolling with finding Pierce's living address (he had four on ebay), getting closeup photos of him, confirming his real name etc.
The former SBS bloke contacted the Sun who then phoned Peter for details.
Pierce had also posed as a colour sergeant in the Parachute Regiment.
That's it for now.
jpeg.jpg