Odd WWI Polish Lancer Badge with design papers

[3mk]

Hey Tony this is a little bit off topic, but how do you identyfy a cast copy?

This badge is really confusing though.

Thanks

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hey Tony this is a little bit off topic, but how do you identyfy a cast copy?

This badge is really confusing though.

Thanks

There are several indicators of a cast copy of a badge of decoration. Look at the surface for characteristic roughness / pitting along with lack of clarity in the finer details. Look for a casting seam along the edge. Sometimes this seam is filed off, but often some evidence remains – such and the filing itself. Keep in mind that many badges and decorations were manually hand filed during the finishing process, although this was usually done very carefully with more finesse than the counterfeits.

Also, cast items are generally thicker and ‘clumsier’ than originals. And cast badges are usually smooth on the reverse. But this is not always the case. New technologies are being employed to produce some very deceptive items that mimic the die stamped relief, such as a crop of Polish 2nd Corps collar and beret badges now on the market. Initial brisk sales on these have cooled off as the word has gotten out. But many of these now reside in collections as expensive imposters.

Caution my friend, caution!

Tony

[3mk]

Thanks Tony!Im gonna start looking out for myself!
Thanks

[JazzKatDaddy]

Hey, neat! Our very own Polish section, and Antek is our Dear Leader! I agree with Antek, the badge is a-ok.
Regards, Henry

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hey, neat! Our very own Polish section, and Antek is our Dear Leader! I agree with Antek, the badge is a-ok.
Regards, Henry

Mighty Henry! Good to have you aboard. Sorry for the slow reply as I am still catching up after being off line due to the site maintenance snag we had over last weekend.

As far as this badge, it looks good, but there are some lingering questions. I'd need to handle it to be more certain, and even then then some questions may still remain.

Henry, I look forward to your contribution here, and sharing some of your incredible collection - which I will say again is easily amongst the best of the best outside museums. And you even give the museums a good run for their money!

Cheers,
Tony

[JazzKatDaddy]

I will get to posting in the near future, Tony. You guys have some great threads going here. I'm still catching up.

To AwMartin, one thing to keep in mind when dealing with these badges, particularly the seldom-seen ones, is that no reference book can be 100% relied on to be accurate, despite it's author's best intentions. Much has been lost to time regarding makers of some of these items. At times, stating that a badge was made by Reising means that the author has observed that badge with a Reising disk.
We are sure about a lot, but certainly not everything in this field.