The Royal Scots V.Btns good or bad

[Dave S]

could anyone please tell me if these badges are good or bad

[manchesters]

Dave,

They all look brand new to me.
The VB badges ceased to be manufactured 113 years ago so ask yourself, do these badges look 113 years or more old?
I would say the answer is no.

I cant tell from the photos but I suspect most have footed loops, a sure sign of a fake from that era.

regards

[Luke H]

Most of those pictures and the Manchester ones look identical to listings on eBay by a seller who has been moving on a lot of badges recently.

If it is then I would warn you a very high % of those badges offered are reproduction.

My advice would always be research first then buy to avoid disappointment.

[Dave S]

yes that is where they came from and on looking the bi metal one's lugs look ok and the 5th has lugs that look like fence staples but smaller the rest look footed, the manchesters are being returned

[Luke H]

That seller is very open and states this in all his descriptions in bold.

PLEASE BE FULLY AWARE THAT I AM NOT A DEALER OR A COLLECTOR OF CAP BADGES AND I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE SUBJECT, THE ITEMS LISTED ARE FROM MY LATE FATHERS COLLECTION AND I NEED TO FIND NEW HOMES FOR THEM ALL, THEREFORE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTO'S IS THE EXACT ITEM AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WILL RECIEVE

OBVIOUSLY IN A USED CONDITION AND REMAINS PRESENTABLE AS SEEN

Obviously it’s between you and him and eBay but I’m not sure what grounds you have for a return if you received the item pictured. No claims to authenticity are made and such a spiel obviously equals buyer beware.

[Alan O]

Unfortunately the vast majority of cap badges on ebay are repro and only a tiny percentage of VB badges on ebay are genuine.

[Keith Blakeman]

I don't know if it's just me but I find it really hard to differentiate between good and bad Royal Scots VB badges. I've just gone through all the main dealers listings and with the exception of a couple of 5th VB's on Geoff Newman's site where the metal looks spot on, all the others are filthy dirty, non-black patina loops or have re-fittings. The single metal doesn't help, nor does the font used on a couple. Taking all of them into account, there are not many out there with the exception of the 5th which appears to be the most common so that should give a good indication of their rarity.

[Dave S]

He accepted the return of all the manchesters, i did it through the ebay returns policy which states things can be returned if they are fake, although it looks like I still got a boatload of dodgy badges to get rid of
the 5th V B royal scots shown in the lists above has the type of fittings that were used in the helmet plate removable centres, I thought that was a bit unusual

[Luke H]

That is good news.

Just to prepare you of the 80 odd other badges you appear to have purchased from this seller appear to be +90% fakes at a glance. Obviously if you knew or suspected that then fair enough.

[Dave S]

I have been sorting through the badges I have bought and comparing them to known good examples I don't think I have done too bad and there were some good ones well worth having in there.
also many were very cheap and although I have a bundle of duffers I should be able to move them on as restrikes easy enough, also the guy's pictures weren't that good and in the hand, many were very nice, the lincoln 3rd vb i think is good for example comparing it to source i found, but then the odd nice one compensates for the duffers.

[Luke H]

Very many were cheap because very many were fake.

In a bundle you’d do well to get more than you paid individually. Most lots of fakes sold as such sell for £3-4 a badge.

The Lincs is fake.

[Dave S]

why would you say that the lincs is a fake when I saw another that was exactly the same from a reputable source, what is the indicators of a fake, although I am fairly new to British badge collecting I have been metal detecting for 30 years, and am pretty good at researching things although I may have made a few mistakes from being a bit over-eager it is a situation that will soon rectify itself.

[Luke H]

Because it is from a fake die created post 1970s which has been used to churn out a whole cohort of Lincs related fakes including V.B.’s and Louth OTCs.

There are numerous regiments where more than one fake die exists so it is not always as simple as avoiding one.

You have what I call the Johnny Cash fake here. There is also the ‘clown face’ fake which is more common.

All dealers make mistakes, some a lot more than others…

[manchesters]

I can also confirm that the Lincs VB badge is a fake and one that with experience a collector like Luke or myself can spot from across the room.

If you have bought any VB badge off ebay for prices in the teens or twenties then they are fake.

We all monitor ebay and badges that are correctly described are found by everyone and wont go cheap.

regards

[Fatherofthree]

Originally Posted by Dave S

I have a bundle of duffers I should be able to move them on as restrikes easy enough, .

To whom exactly????

You have been pointed in the right direction re fakes/duffers/wrong un's and worse, yet you will move on the crap. Are you sure?

Regards.

Brian