Good GWL IAB?

[tenten]

Got offered this GWL IAB. I know there exist some quite good fakes of this variant, so can you tell me if this is a good one?

Thanks for your help!

[Thomas Durante]

Nope, a cast fake IMO.

Tom

[Bruce Simcox]

Hi tenten......

......Tom is correct. That badge is a FAKE. My advice to you is to spend some time in the fakes galleries, unless you already have.

[tenten]

I have, but the examples there are quite different from this one. Tom, Bruce, thanks a lot for your review

[Tom Yanacek]

No good!

I agree with Tom and Bruce. It is a fairly-convincing attempt but is still flawed in many ways. It looks to me like it could be some of Staegemeir's handiwork.

I wonder how this fake would spec out in comparison to the originals? My guess is that it will be smaller by about .50mm in each dimension. The originals are very consistent in size.

Here is data from two originals:

Badge #1
62.40mm high
47.75mm wide
27.3 grams

Badge #2
62.51mm high
47.68mm wide
27.8 grams

Best rgards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

side-by-side compare:

(fake on left & original on right)

[Tom Yanacek]

original catch, pin, and hinge:

[Tom Yanacek]

original maker mark is very crisp:

[tenten]

Thank you, Tom, for adding valuable information and making this thread a good reference page for the GWL fake! I added the badge to the fake gallery and included a link to this thread.

I'll also add some more keywords here for making it easy to find:
Gebrüder Wegerhoff, Lüdenscheid, Infantry Assault Badge, Infanteriesturmabzeichen, ISA, GWL fake replica