Gaunt Plaques - Real or Fake?

[whizzbang]

Tried posting this under the previous Gaunt maker's mark thread but I think it warrants a new thread and I didn't get any responses before! I think it would be great if we could do a review of Gaunt plates/plaques.

I've attached pics of one RND badge (has been the subject of a previous thread with about equal weight of members opinions as to it being a fake or not a fake). I've also posted pics of two Canadian CEF badges - one Machine Gun and one Lord Strathcona's Horse both of which have Gaunt plaques and both which I have believed up till now are original.

All of these badges have similar plaques that differ from the common Gaunt plaque. The plaques pictured here have a well defined, neatly struck font on a slightly bigger plate than the usual Gaunt plaque. In contrast the common Gaunt plaque font is generally not particularly cleanly struck and can sometimes be difficult to read (there is a good example in the Gaunt makers mark album).

So - what do you think? Are the plates in the attached pics genuine? To add to the discussion - I believe that the CEF MG badge pictured here was made towards the end of the war - almost all these badges are in near-mint condition and may never have been issued. However, I think most CEF collectors accept them as genuine. Could Gaunt have "updated" their plaque towards the end of the war??

Anyone got similar plaques on badges they know to be genuine?

Cheers, Ian.