Reference books the true authority on authenticity??

[mattpath30]

I have seen some posts stating how even pictures from unspecified reference books contain fake items. So my question than becomes if we need to continually scrutinize items in published books, how do we even know if an item is truly real or not? I guess I have just always operated under the assumption that if ever I had a question about an item or wanted to learn more, I would always refer to a reference book (Angolia). Isn't that the reason they were written?? Aside from being on the battle field, is there ever an actual trusted authority that can be trusted to determine authenticity of militaria. Maybe I am just naive in thinking that if an author took the time to put together a reference book than that means every item must be real...or maybe I am just crazy

[bmsmear]

Here!

This Forum would be an excellent place to determine authenticity.
Submit good images of any item you are questioning and let the members assist.
This forum has many highly experienced collectors always willing to assist.

[Tim O'Keefe]

Would say every book that has been written on original militaria items has a few fakes in it...

Agree the best place to authenticate any military item is right here on this Forum. Read the many threads with photos, add your own & there are many experts in their areas that will assist you

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

an interesting project would have to list the fake items included in "famous" books, and explain why they are fakes.

See You

Vince

[Tim O'Keefe]

It has already been done in many areas of collecting right here on the WAF....