1 of 3 Minesweepers for evaluation

[John R.]

First

[John R.]

last of first badge

[88_IGGI]

last of first badge

Look good to me.

[Norm F]

He does really well on the hardware, but look at the colour of the finish and the "aging" -- very much like his "AS in triangle" reproduction which was pretending to be zinc while this is pretending to be tombak. The real base metal seems to be some kind of yellow metal alloy? -- just doesn't look period.

Would be a good addition to the Staegemeir reference thread.

Best regards,
---Norm

[John R.]

I just am not sure it is a fake though--do we have enough information on hand to make that determination?

This is the problem with a reputation. Even pieces that might be good have to evaluated in context with the other items for sale.

In the case of this RSS minesweeper badge, I think it is OK but perhaps it has been refinished? Not sure and impossible to detect from these very good images IMO.

The reverse looks like it was polished or something. Who knows if this is just the way this badge is today and nobody did anything.

My take, a period badge but possibly messed with.

It looks like it has been vaulted too.

John

[Norm F]

Hi John,

Thanks very much for posting these very interesting R.S.S. minesweeper examples.

I'm still not keen on this badge though. Why put a new fake artificially aged finish onto a genuine badge? I would think there'd be an insufficient profit margin in that.
Don't you think the finish looks just like the finish on the reproduction HSF you just posted in the pinned thread?

My impression is that he's a master of reproducing the form, structure and hardware but can't reproduce the exact alloy and finish. Just my impression though.

I agree with you that I wouldn't buy anything from him due to the uncertainty factor. The difficulty may be spotting these badges out of context in resale with different lighting conditions and photography.

Best regards,
---Norm

[John R.]

In hand, we would know very quickly what was going on with these. I admit, it does not look like zinc.

Based on a number of factors, I would avoid buying any badge of this maker that looks like this example.

John