Oh dear !!!!!

[cbuehler]

Originally Posted by manchesters

Thats the end of the real Combination collections!!!

I saw those combinations and, at least for me, they don't make the cut.
I suppose less discerning collectors could be fooled if they had a bit of aging.

CB

[Mike_H]

Take heart!! I am not disputing any of the comments so far but if this series of repros continue to be as bad as the 40th Div and Hawk Battalion specimens illustrated there shouldn't be so much chance of confusion.
Mike

[High Wood]

Originally Posted by Mike_H

Take heart!! I am not disputing any of the comments so far but if this series of repros continue to be as bad as the 40th Div and Hawk Battalion specimens illustrated there shouldn't be so much chance of confusion.
Mike

Indeed, there is still a lot of obvious dross around but the better quality fakes are improving all the time thanks to modern production methods. Regrettably, one of the unintended consequences of pointing out the flaws in fake badges is that the fakers are watching and learning.

[akiko]

Originally Posted by High Wood

Indeed, there is still a lot of obvious dross around but the better quality fakes are improving all the time thanks to modern production methods. Regrettably, one of the unintended consequences of pointing out the flaws in fake badges is that the fakers are watching and learning.

I'm not convinced of either of those two things. I think the last statement is a furphy.

[cbuehler]

Originally Posted by akiko

I'm not convinced of either of those two things. I think the last statement is a furphy.

Well, unfortunately the last statement may not be so much a furphy as one might hope or think.
It has been practiced for long regarding Third Reich material and I fear has already been applied to US and British as well.
It is an issue that many advanced collectors wrestle with when providing certain details as they may be aware that nefarious eyes are watching.

CB

[akiko]

Originally Posted by cbuehler

Well, unfortunately the last statement may not be so much a furphy as one might hope or think.
It has been practiced for long regarding Third Reich material and I fear has already been applied to US and British as well.
It is an issue that many advanced collectors wrestle with when providing certain details as they may be aware that nefarious eyes are watching.

CB

Thank you but I'm hardly the uninitiated.

[Mike B]

The reproduction market is a serious hazard and is the reason any serious collector needs to do homework, research and adopt a forensic approach. This is perhaps a double edged sword as any collector should research and appreciate the items they have anyway - no matter what their value. On the other hand, reproduction and fake items, manufactured for whatever reason pollute the market and arguably should be clearly marked to forewarn new collectors who could and will be fooled, either now or in the future. Personally I have a very hard-line view and think even a 'gap filler' can diminish a display ... but that is personal choice. Even when you buy attributed groupings you may find a veteran has 'added' to their insignia for reunions etc ... how do you view Commando Association badges etc? personally I do not like to display them with contemporary WW2 items. No doubt we all have lessons to learn, no matter how long we have been collecting (over 50 years), we can only keep researching, researching and researching.

[Frank Kelley]

I don't understand the problem, it is described as new, it is simply another copy.

Originally Posted by Peter Brydon

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW1-Briti...0AAOSwi5dczqlb

P.

[Mike B]

Frank
OK the seller is upfront but what happens subsequently?
We were all new once, but do not to pretend to be what we aren't
A funny simile if like me you are an identical twin, but a simile all the same ;-)
Mike

[Frank Kelley]

Mike,
Subsequently, it will remain a fake, I don't collect formation signs, notwithstanding, my advice to anyone that does, would be to keep up to date with copies to avoid buying them as original in the future, if that involves actually buying an example, so much the better as you can then determine the differences. now and not in a decade or two.
It is unfortunate that people have done so much damage, take Peter Green for example, his wares are now available across the whole marketplace, often being sold as original, sometimes out of ignorance, usually deliberately.
I am not sure what having a twin, or not, has to do with this thread and I do not pretend to be what I am not.
Regards Frank

[akiko]

Originally Posted by Frank Kelley

Mike,
Subsequently, it will remain a fake, I don't collect formation signs, notwithstanding, my advice to anyone that does, would be to keep up to date with copies to avoid buying them as original in the future, if that involves actually buying an example, so much the better as you can then determine the differences. now and not in a decade or two.

Wise words.
Originals should be studied and researched and then it is easier to determine the fakes. This goes for cloth and metal.

[Paul Spellman]

Originally Posted by Mike B

Frank
OK the seller is upfront but what happens subsequently?
We were all new once, but do not to pretend to be what we aren't
A funny simile if like me you are an identical twin, but a simile all the same ;-)
Mike

But Mike, your brother Richard is much shorter than you

[Mike B]

Frank - no offence intended - the simile was a joke ... in my mind a fake is pretending to be something it isn't. If you had an identical twin you would know the pitfalls of people thinking you are someone you aren't.
You are right that the study of fakes is one way of avoiding pitfalls ... an increasingly necessary task and part of the 'forensic approach' most collectors appear to adopt, not least through using this forum.

Hi Paul - I wish, ... he 'nearly' always got the better of me in a scrap, he has almost an inch in height on me, but thankfully reach is the same. ;-)

All the best
Mike

[Peter Brydon]

Some examples or what happens in due course when repro (or whatever you what to call them ) items are produced:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10th-Batta...8AAOSwPNBdMw5y

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-8t...gAAOSwTglYk3b2

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Liverpool-...kAAOSws59dNNdE

P.

[akiko]

What is your point Peter?