Quote:
Originally Posted by whizzbang
Here's a thought - if this was a fake there should be a lot more around - not much margin in turning out a repro that is as rare as the original!??
Cheers, Ian.
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Ian,
It actually makes perfect sense, if you flood the market with such a fake it would become obvious very soon that they are indeed fakes and prices would tumble. Whereas if you sell them quitely one every month or so they'll command a premium price. The guys making and faking these things aren't silly.
We've known for sometime now (courtesy of STM) that Gaunt plaques ARE being faked and can be bought by the bag or even affixed to a badge of your choice for a few extra pennys.
What it boils down to is dies and J.R. Gaunt and Gaunt plaques.
How many dies would Gaunt have had for these rare RND, Pals etc badges? In truth I doubt more than one as none show signs of damage and these units had relatively low numbers.
Three cases I've seen so far:
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1)
A friend of mine and very experienced collector, ex-forum member Keith Blakeman recently bought a good looking (age, patina, stamp, N-S lug, correctly voided pennant - wise) NELSON RND with a Gaunt plaque, when it arrived he realised that the 'N' was straight whereas genuine Gaunt NELSON RNDs had a slanted 'N' as per Peter Taylor's:
http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ghlight=nelson
Here are just a couple of the most obvious differences I've highlighted
>(1) Clear differences in the 'N'
>(2) Obvious difference in the mermaid
So the question is why is there a Gaunt plate on a badge from a different die?
Thanks to Keith and Peter.
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2)
Your badge, which I will not comment on the authenticity of, but will say this.
Peter's and Paddy's Hood badges come from the same (correct) Gaunt die.
(kind thanks to Paddy for letting me use his picture)
Whereas the badge you show is clearly from a different die but has a Gaunt plate.
Differences:
>(1) The anchor point
>(2) The choughs foreleg
>(3) The stance/shape of the chougs body
and most obvious of all
>(4) The lettering
So another RND badge Gaunt had two dies for??? Make of that what you will.
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3)
Now compare this Lonsdale Rifles from Geoff Newmans site:
http://www.gnmilitaria.co.uk/shop/vi...h=10059&phqu=2
(I would point out that Geoff is a top bloke and 99.9% of is stuff is 100%)
to alan g's genuine one and the bosleys one on buywyze (these latter two are from the same die but the bosleys one has a void between the wings and neck)
http://buywyze.com/shop/viewphoto.ph...1014529&phqu=1
Differences:
>(1) shape and positioning of the raised arm
>(2) angle of deflection of the tail
>(3) the eye brow
So again a different die yet both have Gaunt plates???
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IMO its very interesting that units who required relatively few numbers badges had two dies (at least) commisioned by and bearing J.R. Gaunts plaques. While I freely accept other manufactueres made RND badges I find it very difficult to believe Gaunt owned multiple dies for the same badge and had such varying styles of plaques for such a confined time period. Make of that what you will.
Luke