British Paratrooper cap badge verification help!

[Witho94]

Hello all,

I'm trying to purchase a couple of WW2 original British Parachute Regiment cap badges, but I've been reading that fakes about online, notably the "blobby" fakes and extended wingtip fakes. I'd like to call upon the collective wisdom of group members with far more experience with these badges than I have. I found I couple that I suspct to be original, but before I buy them I'd like someone with a better eye for these things to look them over.

Item 1;




Item 2;




What do you reckon lads? Do you think either of these are genuine, or clever fakes?

Cheers

[martyboy]

Hi,

I've attached my cap badge which I'm assured is genuine.

Both crowns are King George.

The first badge is very similar to mine.

The only difference is that your second badge ring attachments have more flux or residue from joining them to the back of the badge.

They are such small items and usually unmarked so it's difficult to tell
if they're real or false.

Regards, Mart.

[Witho94]

Hi Mart,

Thanks for your feedback. ArnhemJim did a blog post that did a bit of a deep dive into real vs fake badges and it really highlights the fact that yes, it can be extremely difficult to tell sometimes.

Considering they're not glaringly obvious fakes (i.e. they lack the die defects you usually see with cheaper fakes), I wonder if they might serve for re-enacment purposes.

They're both priced lower than many others touted as original for sale online, so I think there may be less danger of being completely ripped off.

Cheers again.

[Adrian Stevenson]

The first two look ok to me.

Hi Marty, sorry for the bad news, but yours is a fake. Known as the "The Blob". Have a look under the top wing which I have highlighed here. There is a die flaw blob which is not present on any original. These fool a lot of people.

Cheers, Ade.

[Watchdog]

The first two look ok to me.

Hi Marty, sorry for the bad news, but yours is a fake. Known as the "The Blob". Have a look under the top wing which I have highlighed here. There is a die flaw blob which is not present on any original. These fool a lot of people.

Cheers, Ade.

I agree with Ade, the first two do look OK but I would prefer to have daylight images as the metal on these can be sometimes a bit of a giveaway. However, yes these do look OK.

The third one is a "blobby" for sure. There are other issues with these but there is no need to go further once the "Blob" is noted. The metal used for these is sometimes extremely shiny and not what you would expect of something of WWII vintage even one that has been regularly cleaned.

Regards

Mark

[Anderson]

I never knew about "the blob". Fascinating.

[Phill Lockett]

Hi team

The first 2 are good as Ade pointed out and Martys is the "blob" but also and most importantly I have highlighted the square feathers of typical repro as opposed to the first 2 (WWII era) which should be rounded.

cheers

Phill

[prosty zolnierz]

and also Dude, the projections emanating from either side of the top wing " feathers ".