GWL Pilot badge opinion;

[Stijn David]

GWL badge

hello,


i told Nick that I did not like the badge => why ? : first of al I had the chance to vieuw it in the flesh.

When you see it from far it looks very similar but upon close inspection its quality does not come near towards a original GWL pilots badge, to name a few points when looking at the reverse => the wreath is not of the same quality and feel, the rivets are not correct, the Hinge is more thin then normally encountered on the GWL products ( and that is very specific for this producer IMHO ) , the colour of the wreath is in no means the same ( original GWL's tend to hold their original silvering very brightly and nice ) as on this one it is a dull silver colour, it has many many scratch markings on the back, etc .. etc ... we can go on with this one but we do not want to give all the clue's away or seen we will have a perfect fake.

Ps : the eagle is certainly not a Zinc one !!!!

Please Nick post more pictures from this quite dangerous piece, for example from the catch, etc .... simply from every possible detail that can show the wrong points.

Cordial greetings,

[skip]

Yes, please post more detail pics Nick.

I am pretty sure that I also would have fallen for this one if I had been buying it over the internet and had only seen pics.
Are there any shear marks to be seen on the inside of the wreath?
Any signs of casting to be seen?
If this is a fake then I am worried as I am still looking for one of these.

Side by side with a known original would be nice, Frank! Lorenzo!
any chance of one of one of you doing your excellent photo comparisons?

thanks. Skip

[nick]

Ok here some more.

[nick]

more

[skip]

Are you guys really sure that this is a copy.
It sure looks good to me. Scary to say the least.

Skip

[Stijn David]

GWL pilots badge

hello Nick,


Could you please post a very detailed picture of the C-catch ? as that is also a very good indicator IMHO .


Cordial greetings,

[Lorenzo Brown]

Here are comparisons of the swaz. On the top is my GWL PO and GWL Pilot badge. Bottom is Nick's. Notice that the two on top, the swaz arms are neatly struck with very consistent width and evenly spaced. On the bottom, the swaz arms are much different with uneven width and spacing.

[Lorenzo Brown]

Also look at he back of the eagles. The top two have distinctive "fingerprint swirls" characteristic of GWL. The bottom shows only a very light trace, if any at all.

[skip]

Thanks Lorenzo,

as always an excellent comparison of the original and the now proven copy.
Looks like I am going to be very very careful before I buy one of these.
The swirl patterns are new to me, is this a hard and fast rule, and does it crop up on all GWL products or only on the Pilots badge?

thanks Skip

[Tony Barto]

I personally think the rivets alone are a dead-bang giveaway. Upon seeing those I wouldn't have gone any further in consideration of the badge.

[Yuri D.]

Very strong evidence that this badge is a fake, but that the fakers have taken genuine characteristics into account.

Yuri

[Brian S]

I'm not convinced. I think it's a bottom of the barrel badge even if authentic. But, the badge may be zinc and that in itself would explain a lot. Swirls on zinc? Crispness to the eagle lacking in zinc? I don't want it but I'm seeing the same exact badge. No question in my mind.