Is it REPRO? What is authentic and what is reproduction on today's market?

[hhbooker2]

Often when I go to a local gunshow, insignia meeting, flea market or a swap meet, the question always arises at least once and that question is, "But, is it a repro?" How can one buy an item supposedly from World War Two or any war and know it is genuine and made when it was supposed to have been created. What recourse does a buyer have about returning the questionable item and getting their money back? If someone copies music or motion pictures, they violate copyright infringement, they often sue the person who made CDs, DVDs, films, etc., get awarded money for their losses, but some forger makes badges, banners, flags, guidons, insignia, medals, uniforms, etc., so they are not victims and do not deserve to get justice too? Reproductions are okay is sold as such and used by re-enactors to re-enact military battles, campaigns, wars, etc., or want to have a space filler for their display marked "COPY" or "REPRODUCTION" on the piece, like they do with medals for collectors that bear a marking letting the viewer know it is not meant to fool anyone. Anyone who knows they have a 100% complete collection with no REPROS in it, raise your hand!

[Jerry B]

Knowledge is power and if you don't have the knowledge, find someone who does, or in this case post for opinions before you buy. Hard to do at a show, but sometimes you just have to walk on by and let it go, unless it is cheap enough to be worth the risk, though these days most sellers know what an item is worth, so if it is very cheap, most of the time it will be wrong. Some times you can still get a bargain, but only if you know what your doing, so read up on what your interested in and get the knowledge. Knowledge is power!

[gel65]

As bond says knowledge is power. Many collectors have different views on a piece of insignia or hat. One thing you should always do is trust yourself not all sellers out there are good guys. If you are worried about buying reproductions just study what you are interested in. Trust what you know
Sean F

[rbminis]

Often when I go to a local gunshow, insignia meeting, flea market or a swap meet, the question always arises at least once and that question is, "But, is it a repro?" How can one buy an item supposedly from World War Two or any war and know it is genuine and made when it was supposed to have been created. What recourse does a buyer have about returning the questionable item and getting their money back? If someone copies music or motion pictures, they violate copyright infringement, they often sue the person who made CDs, DVDs, films, etc., get awarded money for their losses, but some forger makes badges, banners, flags, guidons, insignia, medals, uniforms, etc., so they are not victims and do not deserve to get justice too? Reproductions are okay is sold as such and used by re-enactors to re-enact military battles, campaigns, wars, etc., or want to have a space filler for their display marked "COPY" or "REPRODUCTION" on the piece, like they do with medals for collectors that bear a marking letting the viewer know it is not meant to fool anyone. Anyone who knows they have a 100% complete collection with no REPROS in it, raise your hand!

Rule #1. If you don't know, don't buy unless you have a right of return in writing.
As far as copyright, no-one that manufactured these items originally is still around and no one was concerned with obtaining the rights to produce. As said before, knowledge is power, learn what you are interested in.
Unfortunately, I can not raise my hand.
Ralph.

[Adrian]

In my humble opinion and in my field of collecting, anything made prior to May 1945 is authentic and anything made after May 1945 but made to look like something made before May 1945 is a repro/fake or however you want to term it.

How to tell one from the other comes down to experience and as mentioned - knowledge which comes from experience.

Always study original items and learn those. Don't become an expert in fakes.

[tempelhof]

we're in no different a situation here than any other collectors really. we are subject to risk of being defrauded like most those involved in the accumulation of any other collectible.

where there is value, there is fraud.

and as all have here said, the only protection against this is education and the effort required is serious. it is not a casual thing of course.

i think, probably, i can raise my hand here. i collect very slowly and very carefully. in some areas i know what i am doing and in others, not so well. but everything i have has been looked at by those who would know better both where i do not and where i know sufficiently to protect myself.

i have one item i question... a wound badge. some good and experienced collectors like it and a few are not sure. i keep it anyway... despite my feeling it is controversial. so... let's say i can put my hand "partly" up.

another partial but i think good protection is to buy from respected names. obviously where it concerns sourcing from flea markets, swap meets and the like, risk rises exponentially.

however, wherever one buys, there is no substitute for knowledge. in the end, one must work on this tirelessly.

and one must remember: there are pieces which are "textbook", vetted by the community and therefore "rock solid" and there are pieces which are not. one can choose to play where the ground is solid and one can choose to take risks. one can save money operating where there is more risk. where there is less, one will pay. and pay I do.

[Adrian]

My collection has no repros in it.











I took them out last week.

[tempelhof]

good move.

[Glenn66]

I'm pretty sure I have no fakes in my collection. I added pieces reasonably slowly and always did plenty of research before laying down the $$ and also posted on the forum usually before and certainly always after the purchase.

So far I have been caught with a couple of fake erkunnegsmarken and a pith helmet shield (from Mr Shady-Kai Winkler no less) and these items were then filed accordingly in the circular filing cabinet.

[Bill T]

I'm pretty sure I have no fakes in my collection. I added pieces reasonably slowly and always did plenty of research before laying down the $$ .

I think what Glenn said here can help out alot with obtaining authentic items. People who are in a hurry to make a massive collection overnight are usually the ones that get caught with a bunch of sketchy/fake items. Buying within the collector/forum community may limit your bargain-finding....but can be a safer bet until you are more knowledgeable. (still need to be careful of course)

My few bad moves were in rushed decision making and taking risks when I did not have the proper knowledge about a specific item. Learn your strong points and try to improve on your weak points!!