Latest Hero FLL CCC Fake

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

Wanted to show the latest FLL CCC reproduction made by our friend the Hero. He is really gone into overdrive with the CCCs lately, no doubt trying to catch up to his level of reproductions of the PABs, IABs & GABs. Just in the past few months I have noticed him making steady progress with his CCC fakes and here is his latest creation. A very well made and quite accurate fake of an FLL clasp. All the correct hardware and even down to the extreme curvature of the clasp. I give him kudos for this latest attemp. Ofcourse, the very poor obverse detailing and crude finish belie the true nature of this clasp.

Also notice his change to a white background to throw us off! Another little piece of advice he no doubt picked up from reading our forums, as collectors have really started to recognize his black background.

All you CCC collectors, keep on your toes as these will no doubt be offered at the next show you go to!

Tom

[Thomas Durante]

Reverse

[Thomas Durante]

R-pin open

[Don D.]

I wish he would give it a break.

[Justin P]

All he has to do now is Use some of that Zinc pest stuff he's got! on the obverse detailing and crude finish, And he will nearly be there

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

Well, in my opinion, there will ALWAYS be something wrong with his fakes. You just have to look hard enough at originals. I am fully aware of his CCC progress and I know that Phil and a few others are keeping good tabs on his IABs, GABs & PABs. I just hope someone is keeping track of his EKs, DKs, Kriegs bages, etc. He is really the only faker that I am concerned about, all other fakes pale in comparison to the Hero. In that light, I think many badge collectors that think they have a good handle on reproductions vs. originals should take a look at his site. They will be amazed and astonished at the level of detail this guy can pick up on his fakes. Just know that when viewing his website, 80-90% of what you are looking at is FAKE!

Tom

[larry]

site

for us who are pretty new ,what is his site?

thanks,larry

[Justin P]

Larry do a search For Hero i think there will be a link in first few Threads

Tom, weight and measurements are wrong for this new Fake i take it?


Regards

[SwordFish]

Did he attempt to file a tort against WAF's admin? If he did, that's laughable!

[Dennis P]

Tom:

Thanks (once again) for this timely warning.

This guy IS getting old! He is obviously hurting the hobby and the future investment value of badges. The newcomers to the hobby are easy prey to this guy if they only have basic reference materials. The collectors who have been around for some time are becoming more and more jaded....and we all know someone who has switched to collecting SOMETHING ELSE! Sometimes the challenge of authenticating real vs FAKE is gratifying. If it becomes a form of ongoing forensic science, each time one picks up a badge, it certainly lessons the joy in collecting.

I find it disturbing that these thread responses (my own included) are a form of positive feedback for this @$$H*L% and his fraudulent enterprise.

I am already anticipating the new AGMuK (new and improved) FAKE CCC thread.

Tom, I do appreciate your ongoing efforts to keep this bridge troll in bright light, and expose his latest endeavors!!!!
My venting is over now.

Dennis

[SwordFish]

There's an age long debate in the edged weapons world about notifying new collectors. Some argue that we have no obligation to pervent a new collector from being burned. I disagree. I belive its inmcubant upon us to steer people away from bad pieces, if for nothing more than to hurt the business of the bad guys. Education, and good open dialogue, free from angles and scheming, putting egos aside is a fundamental building block for preservation of the hobby. Some of the older collectors who say, "to hell with the new collectors" don't realize that if enough new collectors are turned off, and if there is such an influx and inventory of bad pieces on the market, it will ultimately lead to the demise of thier collections monetary value.

I belive that notifying new collectors is the right thing to do. We all need to start somewhere, and books only go so far. I facor the multi-area education approach. Experience, literature/reference, passing on of corporate knowledge to the next generation of collectors.

Just my thought on the whole thing. If you ever need help with Army sabers, just let me know.

[Marvin Jeffus]

Mr. Swordfish,

I now consider you along with a small, selected few of this forum as a true collector.

[münster]

He also does COAs as I found on the net

Hallo, ich persönlich könnte noch folgenden Fachmann für Expertisenerstellung/Orden empfehlen:
Carsten Staegemeir


Habe selbst ein Erdkampfabzeichen mit dieser Expertise hier im Angebot.
Vorteile:
1. Mal eine andere Meinung als nur die einseitigen Meinungen aus dem hohen Norden.

2. Der Preis: Nur 15 Euro

Nachteile:
Man muß sich auf eine längere Wartezeit einrichten. Aus persönlicher Erfahrung so ca. 4 Wochen.

Viele Grüsse

[militaria.no]

I find it disturbing that these thread responses (my own included) are a form of positive feedback for this @$$H*L% and his fraudulent enterprise.

Dennis

But remember one thing: It is ONE of him, there are HUNDREDS of us WAF-Knights. This forum will exist as long as there are serious collectors, and each time we nail details on his (and other) virus repros the active and serious users of WAF will get their antibiotics - Knowledge

It is far worse with those collectors who do not know about WAF...


I have a very good idea:

Moderators on this forum should contact every forum sponsors, those guys we trust and know is in this business with good intentions, and make a standard link on their websites saying something like:

”Are you new to the hobby of collecting militaria or would you like the originality of an item discussed by serious fellow collectors? Visit the Wehrmacht Awards Forum at http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com “.

Well, this will lead a lot of old/new collectors to a new source. So moderators, put on your Nikes and “Just Do It”

[SwordFish]

I hate to admit that I actually do this, but when I see a fake item on fleabay, being marketed as elgitmiate, i'll usually do everything I can do to inform the bidders. If it's an accident of a seller who is not militaria related, and lists his sword off what info he found on the net, i'll usually contact them and typically thank me and either remove the listing or correct it to say repro. But then you see some of the bad guys that have been trolling fleabay for quite awhile. They get dodgy and change screennames. Use public PCs so theres no way to track down the IP addy. These guys are the ones we in the community need to circulate the dialogue about.

On a positive note, i've been watching over the last couple years and have watched how teh community has adapted the crooks. Between WAF, GDC, ***, GMIC, CCA, there are alot of International collectors out there. If we keep communication and dialogue flowing between each forum, hopefully it would reach a fairly decent cross section of the member community. Based on the strong numbers of membership, a dealer who is a crook can end up feeling the heat. If he's tarnished, and tarnished fairly after we've considered all the evidence of that situation, the community knows.

I know it's not kind to speak of the dead, but some of you may know who im thnking of, killed by the police in the motel? His repuration was renowned for selling badge pieces. I guess some were good here and there, but overall, he was one to avoid. The business is still around and I do feel for the family. But that's immaterial.

Anyway, good recognition, good dialogue, great communication, and teh sharing of information. Even if the bad guy is using what we print to better his badges, the totality of what we are doing will pay dividens.