[Roy]

Just re-posting this below as it got lost in the recent maintenance.


Greetings All,

I promised an update on my earlier threads where I had sought members opinions concerning SAS and Para insignia - all turned out to be fake. This saga has come to a conclusion and wanted to share this experience with everyone.

Some months ago I was contacts by a UK based gentleman who wanted some assistance correctly identifying three F-S Knives in his possession. Although in terrible condition, I did confirm they were all in fact correct wartime production. During our conversations over many weeks, he mentioned that he had carried them during his service with the Parachute Regiment in the 1970s. This peeked my interest as the knives were of wartime manufacture and although I have previously found examples that remained ‘in stores’ and were reissued, the topic deserved further investigation. Long story short, he related to me the knives had original belonged to his farther who was a Para in WWII and who had later given these three knives to him for use during his service in the same regiment in the 1970’s.

This story intrigued me, as to find original knives (despite there terrible condition) with 'multi-generational service' is something I had not previously come across. As he was hoping to consign these knives with me, I encourage him to see if he could supply some provenance which included any items he may have from his or his fathers and his service such as documents, photographs, insignia etc. as this would preserve this history and be more appealing to a potential buyer.

All this happened over many months and the end result being a box arrived containing the knives and a large group of Para ‘and’ SAS insignia. He had never mentioned service with the SAS, so my interest was further peeked and IF genuine this would certainly elevate the history of this group.

As our conversations continued I broached the topic of his service and he ‘eluded’ to SAS service but never outright confirmed it. At this point I did my due diligence and sought advice on authenticity on this forum. Needless to say the resulting ‘negative’ responses to the insignia really threw a spanner into the works…!

Ultimately I had to write this gentleman and inform him that all of the insignia he had sent was in fact fake and I would be returning the whole group. Now, to his credit his reply was profoundly apologetic and he took complete responsibility for ruining the project and waisting my time. He went on to admit that he had ‘acquired’ the insignia as to ‘enhance’ the history and had placed his trust in sellers that had informed him that all were completely genuine. He somewhat naively thought this was okay! He continued to relate that he now realized this was completely wrong and that some of his replies to me were….. “wishy washy” and not complete frank, forthright or honest, for which he apologized.

The lesson from this experience is two fold. Firstly, the importance of this forum and the experts and experienced collectors we have, who are so willing to share their knowledge and expertise, thus helping to prevent fake and spurious insignia from finding their way into the hobby. Secondly, it’s worth noting how easy it is for fake insignia to ‘infiltrate’ original and authentic groupings. The story of the fathers service and him passing on the knives for his son to use during his PR service in the 1970’s I believe is true, as he did share with me photographs and official military documents etc. I think what went wrong is perhaps he got carried away in attempting to ‘pad’ the story with other items that he ‘believed’ to be real but ultimately turned out to be fake.

The moral of course, is to check the history, seek advice and second opinions and to look at the whole project with a clear and critical head. I have been dealing in the F-S Knife as my only occupation for nearly two decades now and have unearthed some truly extraordinary and historic groupings, some with incredible provenance, so it remains of utmost importance to me to maintain, note only my hard earned reputation but also the integrity of the history of such artifacts. Ultimately I put a lot of work into this project and sadly it fell apart, ‘not’ because the knives were not genuine and not because of their history BUT because of the owner chose to be less than completely forthright and honest - with me and himself.

My continued gratitude to all my fellow friends and forum members for their continued efforts.

Cheers,

Roy