FAKE World War I Imperial German Flight Badges
This thread is not about trashing the individual who may be selling the wings we post, it is about educating ourselves so when we do see them on sites, we can steer clear of them. There is a lot of deliberate "crookery" that happens - true, however sellers in some cases may really not know that what they are selling is bad. As Oddball would say "Don't hit me with them negative vibes man".
There are literally thousands of supposed original Imperial Flight badges that have been, and continue to be purchased on ebay and other venues. Research, and handling actual period examples are invaluable tools to prevent you from becoming of those clueless individuals that pays hundreds or thousands of dollars for a fake.
I am posting known fakes of these badges. Some of these badges are very convincing, and some are extremely crude.
**Click on all photos for larger view**
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This first group of badges posted all have the same thing in common, a small "tick" mark or flaw on the reverse, lower right side of the crown well.
Die flaws did, and do exist even today, however, when you see the same mark in the same place on various styles of badges, AND on different makers...something isn't right.
Is it possible that a period original badge did possess this mark, and one of them was used to make forgeries - yes...or perhaps this mark may be the result of an oversight of the faker when creating dies.
I have personally observed this mark on Meybauer, Carl Poellath, Karl Poellath, and CE Juncker. It is found on not only Prussian badges, but also on Bavarian badges in Pilot, Retired Pilot, Aerial Gunner, Sea Pilot, Land Pilot, Observer grades AND the fantasy "Imperial German Balloon Badge". Do the math...
As a point of reference, I am posting a close shot of this flaw mark. Perhaps, some have not heard of this before or seen the mark, so here is a visual:
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Here is a badge that is total fantasy, as in - never existed. This is a supposed Balloon Badge. Note the flaw mark on the reverse.
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Prussian Observer with CEJ mark. Note the mark as shown above, same position but this time on a style of badge that did exist. Not to get too far off topic, but there are other indicators as well that expose this as a fake. The serif on the J in Juncker, should not be there. Also, to date, no attributed flight badge has been found with the crown, moon AND silver content mark. However, there is documentation from the period that called for these marks to appear on silver items. I personally am not comfortable with them as of this date, but I am open to further research on this particular topic. But that is another subject for another thread.
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How about an fake Bavarian Pilot badge marked 'Karl Poellath'...complete with engraving? Same mark, same position.
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Perhaps Bavarian isn't your style...no problem. You can have a fake Prussian version engraved and marked 'CE Juncker'.
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Army badges really aren't your thing? No problem, how about a fake Imperial Navy Sea Plane badge marked 'CE Juncker' then?
*Seller's name has been removed from the picture.
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OK....you say you want something REALLY rare? How about a fake Bavarian Aerial Gunner Badge marked 'Carl Poellath' (yes, Carl with a "C"). We can address this later.
Look close, can you see the die flaw?
Re: FAKE World War I Imperial German Flight Badges
The above badges are just a few examples in different variations that feature the same flaw mark in the same exact area. Would any of these fool you if you didn't know about this wandering die flaw? They have fooled many out of their hard-earned cash...be careful.
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The previous examples posted are of good quality, and as stated, can easily fool an unsuspecting and uneducated collector. The following badges fall into another category of fakes - crude.
The first is a supposed product of Steiner and Luck. Beside the fact that S&L didn't produce flight badges during WWI, an obvious red flag is the mark 'M5/83'...the M markings did not come into being until much later in Germany. The hardware is completely wrong in every way, and resembles nothing that would have been used in the period. Additionally, the buildings, bow, Taube, placement of wreath berries and background sky is all wrong. This one includes some rays or beams above and to the left of the plane that are completely inexplicable...