army flak badge

[Tony Barto]

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Enough already. Please, let us stick to discussing the badge and leave the rest out of it.

[Sebastian Bianchi]

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Enough already. Please, let us stick to discussing the badge and leave the rest out of it.

Gentlemen please do not make this an issue of Gailen. In my experience he has always been forthcoming and honest, and when a mistake is made and pointed out he is quick to fix it. He has been a friend of this forum for a long time. Prices are a hot topic these days but my motto is always "your piece, your price". If you don't like the price, don't buy it. The market will dictate the price of items when all is said and done.

Let Frank return to this thread as his time permits, but in the meantime focus on the task at hand which is discussing the badge, not the dealer. To be more clear, this means that if you have something to post here it should be about the badge. I would hate to have to close an otherwise good thread.

Thank you in advance,

[Philippe DB]

Hi Guys

To avoid any misunderstanding in the abcense of a reaction from Frank, he probably won't be able to give his reaction before sunday evening CET.

KR
Philippe

[Gailen David]

Just got a reply from Mike Tucker on the badge. He says that the badge appears original and is unlike the flat W.H. fake Flak badges made 15 years ago. As I said this badge is not flat like the fake. It was a different catch placement and the wreath design is not like the fake.

Gailen David

[Gailen David]

somebody tell me how to put pictures on and I will put detailed pictures of the badge for you to compare with a fake W.H. marked badge.

Gailen David

[Gailen David]

Also, I want you guys to pull out a fake W.H. Flak Badge and tell me if it's flat on the back. The real ones are not flat on the back. Yea, they look a lot a like but they are not a like. The fakes are suppose to be copies of an original W.H. Marked badge. That's why they are called reproductions. But a real one shows major differences. I am probably wasting my breath here. I have owned plenty of the W.H. Fakes and this isn't one of them.

Gailen David

[Gailen David]

Same fake die, but they make a more believable version of the badge ddoering shows by now, regarding pin and catch.

Cheers, Frank

This is not the badge I am offering. It is not flat like this. I am refering to the pictures Frank posted.

Gailen David

[Gailen David]

They also drill in a hole by now.

Cheers, Frank

This unlike the badge I was offering on my site and is certainly not a picture of it. I am refering to the picture Farnk posted earlier.

Gailen David

[Lorenzo Brown]

somebody tell me how to put pictures on and I will put detailed pictures of the badge for you to compare with a fake W.H. marked badge.

Gailen David

Gailen. You can send me the pictures and I will post them for you. Please send them only one-email-at-a-time as my Juno email can't handle too many large JPGs..LB
lorenzo111@juno.com

[Lorenzo Brown]

Here are the pictures from Gailen
FRONT
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Gfront.jpg">

BACK
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Gback.jpg">

Eagle
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Geagle.jpg">

Cannon
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Gcannon.jpg">

REVERSE
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Greverse.jpg">

SIDE
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Gside.jpg">

MARK
<img src="http://photofile.homestead.com/files/Gmark.jpg">

[Gailen David]

Please note, though not entirely easy to tell in the picture that the reverse of this badge is lightly concaved and not flat like the fakes. Also compare the front features and also the location of the trademark compared to the fake badge shown on page one by Frank.

Also thank you for posting the pictures for me.


Gailen David

[Lorenzo Brown]

Well...I have "no dog in this fight" as I do not own a "WH Wien" Flak badge. However, this badge has long interested me since "WH Wien" marked Flak badges have long been purported to be fakes on this Forum.

I have looked at Gailen's badge and I have looked at Frank's badge and IMO they do not appear to be the same badge.

It seems that the center of this controversey stems around a belief, and statements, that "WH Wien" marked flak badges are "fakes". We have here two different such badges which would imply that both are fakes. I wonder where the concept that all "WH Wien" flak badges are fake...that no such badge exists....originated.

I would defer to the poster of post #4 of this thread who agrees "100%" that..
." on original WH's you never will see "Wien" following the MM."

Perhaps the poster of that statement could tell us where he obtained that information...or why he believes that statement to be true?

I think that would be a good start for this subject.

[I Marotto]

I would defer to the poster of post #4 of this thread who agrees "100%" that..
." on original WH's you never will see "Wien" following the MM."

Perhaps the poster of that statement could tell us where he obtained that information...or why he believes that statement to be true?

I think that would be a good start for this subject.[/QUOTE]


I agree....

[Philippe DB]

Hi Guys,

Since I'm the poster of the statement, as you probably knew Larry, and in the absence of Frank, its up to me I suppose.

Concerning my statement thats something I learned on this forum but I think that isn't the most important here.

IMO this badge is a sure fake the completly deformed eagle head in combination with the lack of detail to the feathering is the give away here. On no original bage you'll never find this type of eagle and if you study all the info on this forum I'm afraid that you'll have to agree with me.

Your al welcome to add this one to your collection but I for sure never will even if it was offered to me for $5.

KR
Philippe

[skip]

This is getting interesting.

I am afraid that I must side with Frank and Phil on this one.
The badge is not IMO an original. The details, although good, are not up to what I would want/demand of a Army Flak, although WH did make the most ugly of all the Luft Flak badges, this one is even worse.

Every badge that I have ever seen by this maker(Luft Flak, IAB, Mine/Sub Seeker badges) have always only been marked WH, so why this only example with Wien on it ?

Next up is the hinge, yes I know manufacturers changed around, strange that once again, every WH badge I have seen had a wrap around type, standard hinge, this one however uses a block type, also not a disqualifier on its own but another anomalie on this badge.

Strange also, that in many years of collecting none of us has come across such a specimen, not that thats a reason to damm it, but seeing as the well known copies of this have the same marking, its a good reason to be very suspicious.

Now these are all just my opinions formed from my collecting experiance and what I have learnt here but I definatly would´nt want it in my collection.

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