Yes, Virginia, They Did (and Do) Make Fakes of Common Visors

[stonemint]

I had someone recently tell me that they never made fakes of common visors. I wish it were so.

While there are plenty of reproductions on the market, there were (and are) fakes made of common visors.

You cannot get more "common" than this--a WH Infantry NCO visor. Probably millions of them were made during the period 1933-45, and thousands survive today. (Even stonemint originals rarely break $750).

However, this one is my favorite example to use as an exception to the "rule".

A collector friend of mine bought in in the early 1970's as an orignal, private-purchase Erel.

Looks pretty, doesn't it? Vented cockade, high-peak, high-quality doeskin wool, all the "bells & whistles":

[stonemint]

However, beauty is only skin deep.

Note that the Erel logo is imprined on the exterior of the sweatdiamond, and not on the lining as found on originals. Also note how blurry the logo is:

[stonemint]

& it is somewhat hard to see here, but there is no characteristic "ribbing" to the rayon side-panel lining:

[stonemint]

Here is where the proverbial rubber meets the road (and skids out of control).

The gromment has been re-crimped.

There is not pasteboard backing to the grommet.

There is no Erel sweatband stirndruckfrei system present.

There are no holes in the sweatband for the air to flow thru from the vent.

& lastly, note the dreaded pinking-shear cut of the lining--the kiss of death for any visor.

[stonemint]

My friend thinks he bought this back in 1973 or so--it is now 40 years old. This would have fooled 99% of collectors back in the day (and still would fool most today).

It was made to deceive by a faker our of Kansas City whom we call "Dr. Pinking Shears" because of his love of pinking-sheared linings (his primary tell).
He was in cahoots with 2 people who are now deceased, Gordon Manley and Tom Shutt.
He churned these things out up until the 1990's.
When confronted, his claim was not that he rebuilds caps, but that he "restores" them.

Anyway, this is an example why you have to study both the originals and the fakes.

[spandau]

Chris

Cracker of a thread and a lesson for all of us.

You can never be too careful.

cheers

Tony

[Friedrich-Berthold]

".....& lastly, note the dreaded pinking-shear cut of the lining--the kiss of death for any visor."

Thank you for the show-and-tell and your acute insight into the seedy period of the 1970s and its nefarious personalities. The mountebank who writes a book to merchandise fakes is an old tradition in all of this, to be sure.

Might I ask how this statement about saw tooth scissors above is to be adjudicated with the evidence I have here from the year 1935?
While I am sure there has existed an energetic cottage industry of fake regalia even before the 1970s, even in my native state of the U.S. which poses a peril for new collectors, I do ask for clarification of the above.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The side panel inner lining to caps is described in the RZM circulars as being, for lack of a better word, "breathable,", i.e. it was intended to ventilate perhaps more than the top, which in many cases was supposed to be water resistant.

[stonemint]

F-B, I agree, pinking shears did exist (and were used) on tunics during the TR. However, I have yet to see an original visor with lining panels that were pinked (there may be some out there, and I am still looking for them).

This faker almost always utilized pinking shears in his "restorations", but then again, he was doing this before the advent of the internet, so he never imagined we would be able to post his products so quickly and easily.
Unfortunately, his creations will outlast him, you and me, so hopefully our "outing" of him will be continued into the 22nd century....

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thank you.