The Machinegunner Sharpshooters Badge

[Brian S]

Here's the maker mark a bit closer up, I'm not very good at this lark.



I can send anyone larger pic's they can play with and do as they see fit for the future/now.......just use any pic's I post any time for any reason please.

Good news is, it's not a perfect match to the fake, bad news, it's not close to the original. You did good taking this apart and dissecting it. I agree it was artificially aged. The material newly cut.

[Doug See]

The sloppy looking "engraving" or stamping of this Juncjer mark looks similar to the KAG marks seen on the recent fake KAG and eagle over M EK1's out there. Note the overlaps on the leg of the R. Not seen on early stamps.


Ummm...ummmm....ummm "the82nd" sold dozens of these on eBay for $80 to $150 a pop. Now the fakers in the Netherlands have them.

[MH184]

I have to be honest on this Doug, Don and Brian......look at the sellers pic's then my example he sent me, they don't look one in the same ,the ageing on the reverse is different the cut in the material, the barrel on his had a dark mark striating across it.....mine he sent to me dosen't He probably has dozens.


Not only that there are other deviations, I've been over the pic with a tooth comb......and old Marcus was conned yet again....my fault though. I am a dumb arse at times, I just hope Joanna doesn't notice this on the bank statement, it won't be worth the grief she gives me. I got a couple of nice packets this month though

The badge will be on it's way to Don and Brian to share and research.

Thanks ever so much for the time and help you gave me on this.

Kr

Marcus

[Doug See]

I have to be honest on this Doug, Don and Brian......look at the sellers pic's then my example he sent me, they don't look one in the same ,the ageing on the reverse is different the cut in the material, the barrel on his had a dark mark striating across it.....mine he sent to me dosen't He probably has dozens.


Not only that there are other deviations, I've been over the pic with a tooth comb......and old Marcus was conned yet again....my fault though. I am a dumb arse at times, I just hope Joanna doesn't notice this on the bank statement, it won't be worth the grief she gives me. I got a couple of nice packets this month though

The badge will be on it's way to Don and Brian to share and research.

Thanks ever so much for the time and help you gave me on this.

Kr

Marcus

Marcus--I see you (or someone else named Marcus?) has just left positive feedback for Stumpke on this item. I'm confused why you did this even though a lot of folks went to a lot of time to graciously share their thoughts and time on this (including you!) to show it is a fake. Stumpke has just recently passed off a couple of fake EK's to others. Why doesn't anyone tell it like it is on eBay feedbacks to prevent others from getting conned in the future??
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=6529682270

There are hundreds of these fake MG badges around. A very well known Imperial on-line dealer told me personally that he was offerred cases of these repros brand new (but artificially aged) a couple years back. Luckily, he's an honest guy and turned them down. I think they were from Pakistan. Dealers on eBay who specialize in fakes, dedub67, the82nd (all in the family), apparently bought the supply and have been selling these on eBay for years not honestly described as repros. Now all those buyers who have discovered they were duped are trying to dump them.

[Don D.]

Badge comparisions

Marcus sent me his badge to compare with mine. He had taken his apart and initially I thiught I might take mine apart also but I think there are enough differences that it won't be necessary. First shot is of the obverses. I will spend a little bit of time on the fronts since that is where the obvious differences lie.

[Don D.]

First, note the details I have circled. #1. The left front leg on mine extends over part of the ammo belt. #2. The details of the gun carriage are missing on Marcus's badge. Both circled areas should have traversong or elevation wheels.

[Don D.]

Now I will post larger pics of each badge individually so you can see the details I am talking about. First up is mine.

[Don D.]

And Marcus's.

[Don D.]

Note the size of the openings through the carraige.

[Don D.]

These openings were my first clue in what to look for. Here is a collage of period badges from photos.

[Don D.]

Lastly, the badge Marcus sent me is flat. Both the whole badge is flatter than a pancake and the details on the badge are flat. If you look at the collage you will note that the badges there are all curved. This is so they do not distort the uniform sleeve. The fakers didn't take this into account. The ammo belt is very flat whereas on mine it is more rounded with the high spot in the middle of the bullet. Because Marcus's badge is flat his bullets actually have more detail than the ones on mine.Now we shall move on to the reverse.

[Don D.]

It is hard to get an accurrate comparision decause Marcus took his badge apart. I will point out some differences though. Firstly, look at the pins. The ones on Marcus's badge are thicker than the ones on mine. They are also blunt. Mine are sharp so they could poke through the cloth.

The middle two pins on mine are bent to the middle which makes sense when you consider they are holding the gun to the curved backing plate. Marcus's pins bent down. Another feature that I would key on when looking for a good one.

Also note the uneven aging of the bottom plate. This shows all the signs of being artificially applied.

[Don D.]

The other reverse parts of Marcus's badge. Note the blunt ends to the pins.

[Don D.]

Last item is to look at the maker marks. First up is mine. Note my pointy little pins.

[Don D.]

And Marcus's.