Information about myself and being scammed with fakes

[Bencejones]

Gentlemen, I thought I would give the back story as to why I have been posting so much. I have only been collecting for about 18 months after I was given an Iron Cross First class and SA sports badge. During this time I have been obtaining my collection from 2 main dealers. One owned a shop in Sydney for many years but recently retired and was selling online but lived near me. Subsequently, I was invited to his house and then the milking of me began. I have attached some pictures of my collection and you can see my dilemma. I have paid a lot of money to him and another local dealer who I have bought numerous peices from him. I have already approached the online dealer and he has stated that he will sort it out upon his return from UK in 6 months. The other collector I intend to pay him a visit once I get some more feedback from my posted items.

Therefore, I would ask kindly to our senior members with the knowledge to help me get my money back by providing in depth comments about the medals, badges, knives and headgear I post please. I greatly appreciate the help I have received so far from our members and Admin. A little bit about myself, I am an Australian Army Veteran, I was a CAPT medical officer and served in Iraq with the USA contingent and I am still friends with the soldiers I meet there. I have also served in East Timor twice and Solomon Isands. Before studying Medicine late in life, I was a NSW Police officer working in various areas of employment. I am single and have 6 chldren. I only have 2 young ones living with me 50% of the time and work as a local doctor GP.

Anyway, I hope that helps explain my circumstances and the reasons how I found my way onto this forum. I must say I am indebted to member "Wizardman" who I recently met in person and he helped me get in touch on this forum, without him I would still be getting ripped off. Please be patient with me, there is numerous more items to post.


Kind regards,

BenceJones (If you are wondering abut my name, it is from Bencjones Proteins which are extracted and detected in the patients urine by the kidneys and can indicate someone has the blood cancer Multiple Myeloma)

Real name is Keith!!!!!!

[rbminis]

Sorry to hear that you have been taken Keith.
I am sure we ALL have a few items that we have wasted money on.
Those of us who only have been fooled a few times, usually keep those fakes for reference.
From the images you have posted, I suspect there are still some more bad items you are going to post for us to comment on.
We are never happy to give someone bad news but, on the other hand, we are happy to make you more informed in this field of collecting.
Ralph.

[Rakkasan187]

Keith,

First, let me welcome you to the forum, there are some remarkable folks on here (as you have met some of them by now) and second, I want to thank you for your service in the Military and to your country and for being an ally of the US and serving with our troops.

I served for 22 years as an Infantryman in the US Army and it was always a highlight of my career time when I had the honor of serving beside allies (British, French, German, Italian, Belize, and several other Nations).

We fully understand your frustrations as many of us here have been burned more than once. It always hurts to hear that something that you thought was original was fake and then of course the doubt starts sinking in and you try to convince yourself that the items are in fact real, but I have also been very grateful for the knowledge and expertise the members here are willing to share, and over the years I have also been able to share knowledge and experience with newer collectors to the field from the knowledge I have gathered here and by studying in-depth the areas of interest in the field of TR collecting that I enjoy the most.

What I had done with the items I have been told were reproductions and fakes were to segregate them from my originals and then I went about replacing the reproductions with original examples. This has taken me several years, but I can compare the originals and reproductions in hand now and see the differences from as simple as the clasp type used on particular badges to other finer and very minute details that even the most advanced collectors may miss without careful observation.

I have also amassed a very large reference library which in my humble opinion is a tool that is absolutely necessary for this field of militaria. When I started to collect militaria 40 plus years ago many of the books were at that time the only ones on particular topics of TR collecting and they were considered then the top shelf books to have. I still have many of those books full of black and white photos, but the books still serve a significant purpose in comparing badges and other TR regalia in updated books with color images and more detailed information.

Some of the books cost even more than some of the TR decorations and regalia we seek out to add to our collections.

I will encourage you to keep posting your items in the appropriate sections for vetting, based on the images that you have provided you will no doubt have some good pieces so don't get discouraged and always feel free to ask questions on the authenticity of an item before you purchase it, that way you will be satisfied knowing that someone else has examined the item in question.

I do hope you will be able to recoup some of the money lost and hopefully the person going to the UK and will be unavailable for the next 6 months is not just saying this as an excuse, as this seems rather suspect to me..

Before long you will be helping others out on their journey into TR collecting.

Best regards, Keith

Stay safe

Smitty

[Bencejones]

Thank you gentlemen for your kind words of support and understanding. You are both correct about the feelings I am currently having, but if I can quote Nietzsche "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.' To be honest, when I was initially told, I did feel like throwing the towel in and giving up, but I will rally and come back with the knowledge I have learnt here and obtain the new pieces as described by Smitty so eloquently. I am going after the two main sharks who burnt me and Smitty, in relation to the seller who is going to UK, that is a genuine trip he takes every year. He has a house in the UK and travels about looking for more pieces. However, I now know he is travelling looking for more fakes.

Anyway, onward and upward. Standby for more of my memorabillia for posting. By the way, thank you Smitty for your service Sir. Cheers