Finally gathered up

[Drmiggy]

I’ve been finding these badges all over the house and I’m sure there will be more as the draws are looked into ?. Collection so far….

[mike_vee]

The first two dated poppy pins look interesting , what are the dates ?

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[Drmiggy]

Hi Mike

They are 2009 and 2011, all these have been purchased by me from poppy sellers locally, so I asssume they are all original?
Regards
Ian

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Drmiggy

Hi Mike

They are 2009 and 2011, all these have been purchased by me from poppy sellers locally, so I asssume they are all original?
Regards
Ian

The 2009 looks fine but the 2011 with the leaf in that position (low) was not produced/sold by the RBL.

In 2011 the leaf on the poppy pin was moved to the left hand side and was only officially produced with the leaf in the 'high' position.

Branches in N.I produce a lot of "unofficial" pins/badges which are quite often based on official designs. I have quite a few in my collection as they are great and very well made but should not be confused with the offical ones.

Note : In 2012 and 2013 the RBL produced/sold two versions of pins , the 'low leaf' ones were sent to branches for the Poppy Appeal and the 'high leaf' were sold (on a card) directly from Poppy Shop.

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[Drmiggy]

Amazing, i took another look the quality of both badges is very similar. Thanks for your comments
Regards
Ian

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Drmiggy

Amazing, i took another look the quality of both badges is very similar. Thanks for your comments
Regards
Ian

Are they exactly the same size , in your photo the 2009 looks slightly smaller ?

Also are the back of the badges same ?

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[Drmiggy]

Hi Mike

The 2009 is slightly smaller and I have hopefully attached pictures of 2009, 2011 and the 2017 one.

I also know where my 2008 one went, it was buried with a colleague John, who died on the 11th of the 11th. The others may well turn up tucked away in draws!
Regards
Ian

[mike_vee]

OK , the photos show a couple of things .....sorry !

The 2009 appears to be genuine , correct size and back.

The 2011 has the leaf in the wrong place , is not the correct size (all early dated pins 2006-2013 are the same size) and has criss cross back . Each of these individually are signs of a copy/fake , yours has all three !

The 2017 is not correct , the RBL only produced double dated (1917/2017) pins , it also has criss cross back which is found on copies/fakes.

Note : from 1914/2014 to 1918/2018 the official RBL pins were double dated , any single dated pins 2014-2018 are not official RBL.

In 2016 two badges were produced and sold , one (due to production error) was a different shade of red.

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[Frank Kelley]

So even though a badge is bought from the RBL, it might not be genuine?

Originally Posted by mike_vee

The 2009 looks fine but the 2011 with the leaf in that position (low) was not produced/sold by the RBL.

In 2011 the leaf on the poppy pin was moved to the left hand side and was only officially produced with the leaf in the 'high' position.

Branches in N.I produce a lot of "unofficial" pins/badges which are quite often based on official designs. I have quite a few in my collection as they are great and very well made but should not be confused with the offical ones.

Note : In 2012 and 2013 the RBL produced/sold two versions of pins , the 'low leaf' ones were sent to branches for the Poppy Appeal and the 'high leaf' were sold (on a card) directly from Poppy Shop.

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[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Frank Kelley

So even though a badge is bought from the RBL, it might not be genuine?

A lot of the N.I.branches have badges produced locally which are used for fundraising , for the Poppy Appeal or branch funds.

Although a lot of these pins/badges are not officially authorised by the RBL the problem I have is when copyright/trademark pins (such as dated poppy pins) are produced. Variations which were never official RBL pins have crept into the mainstream and are being advertised/sold as "rare".

Edit : I know of a couple of Branches in England who wanted to produce badges , either Branch specific or for an Anniversary , and were refused permission from the RBL to use any of the trademark/copyright symbols/logos.

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[mike_vee]

Below is an example of a poppy pin produced and sold by a N.I. badge company.

Although there is no indication of the size and no photo of the rear (plain or criss cross) , it is definitely a copy/fake as the leaf is on the wrong side . The RBL moved the leaf to 11 o'clock position in 2011.

These pins end up in Branches , usually "a bag found in a drawer or cupboard" , and are assumed to be genuine as they are then sold by RBL branches.

Note : This is not only a N.I. issue , an RAF veteran and "Civic Leader" in England who is heavily involved in Remembrance services/Commemorations was selling 100% fake 2006 pins. He was informed they were fakes but continued to sell them on eBay under 3 different (family/friend) accounts.


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