Fake 1902 Rising Sun?

[derekx]

I'm pretty sure this one's a fake, any thoughts?
It's already over $200
eBay item 190868668968

Regards, Derek

[slick_mick]

I don't like it.

The same seller also has previously had fake Aussie badges for sale.

He is more of a NZ rather than Aussie badge expert.

Mick

[Milmed]

Hi,
I know very little about early Australian badges and have never seen one of these in the flesh. How can one tell that this is a copy.... any pointers to look for?

Thanks
Steven

[slick_mick]

On a 2nd look it could be ok.

Will try and compare it to pictures I have at home.

Mick

[Donny B.]

I am no expert on these badges so I can not comment on whether it is genuine or not!

I can not post a picture of mine until my "technician" gets home tomorrow. At that time I will take them out of their case and examine the reverse and take a picture.

In the meantime, though the badge in question doesn't look too bad to me, I do notice that, while mine has a neat ridge around the top of the AUSTRALIA, from the scroll back to the scroll, it (the eBay badge) appears to have had a bit of a mishap above the first "A" where the ray seems to have encroached upon and cut off the ridge. Also, the two small rays above the last "A" seem to be much more distinctly "two" rays than mine. Stll, I am not an expert and we do always hear of "makers' variations".

Although it is a bit grey, the image in Cossum's Rising Sun Badge book is not a bad reference.

I Man

[derekx]

My concern is with the positioning of the lugs. Genuine badges made using proper jigs will have the lugs fixed symmetrically, whereas restrikes done by hand usually have misaligned lugs.

[slick_mick]

Has anyone ever come across known fakes or restrikes of this badge? I've not seen any myself.

Mick

[vigilans]

Looks good to me......never seen a repro collar, plenty of hat badges tho

[Donny B.]

One for comparison and one for interest.

I Man