A worrying Luft GAB

[skip]

Found this one today on an auction site. Thought everybody might like to see and discuss this type of Luft GAB

Skip

[skip]

back

[skip]

If it had´nt been for this MM I probably would´nt have taken any notice of it.

[Bruce Simcox]

Hi Skip......

......that is definitely a very poor mm. Looks nothing like what the mm of GWL should look like. A real give-away for what it is......FAKE.

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Bruce

[skip]

Yes, I would agree that the MM is a fake Bruce. What worries me is, is the badge a fake as well?

If yes, are all the one piece badges with this setup fake as well?

Or, is this a real badge with the MM added at a later date?

I can find no fault with the badge itself, however Frank has also expressed doubts that all badges of this type are authentic, and I must admit, I agree with him.


Skip

[Don D.]

That is the first one that I've seen with the filing marks all the way around the reverse. The badge appears to be slightly concave. I thought all of these should be flat backed.
Don

[skip]

Hi Don,

concave reverse, nope, I´ve seen those like this before.
Filing marks, indeed, first one I have seen were the filing goes ALL the way around the outside.

skip

[mmiller]

Hey Guys,

Definately an 'aftermarket' MM. And the filing ain't supposed to be there AT ALL. (Is this an attempt to add shear marks to deceive the novice?) And although the front image is not 'sharp', I don't see much detail in the eagle's wings. These Ground Assault badges generally have a lot of detail in the wing fletching.

I don't think all one piecer's are bad, but this one certainly is. I'm glad that 'they' got it so wrong. An easy to spot fake.

Mark

PS- Skip, what incredible finds are you going to pick up this weekend, at the flea market!

[skip]

Hi Mark,

I think the lack of detail in the eagle is more due to wobbly photo and photo compresion than the badge itself.

I have seen ones that I thought were good with some filing around the edges, if it was originally done like that or some naughty people had played with it at a later date I don´t know.

I´m tending towards this being a heavily played with but who knows!

Always hard to say what the weekend may turn up Mark, sometimes I get up at 05:00 for 3 or 4 weeks and don´t find anything at all. Another time I may roll up at midday and find something totally amazing. Thats the fun of fleamarket cruising.

Skip

[MH184]

Could be the pic and my eyes but the catch looks a bit big ?



Here is a pic of mine of this type skip, in the days before my scanner and the badge is where you keep your boxes

Kr

Marcus

[MH184]

I'd tend to think it was bad Skip, then an even worse mm applied.

[MH184]

rev Even with these crap quality pic's you can still deter the detail to an extent

[mmiller]

Skip,

You are probably right about the poor quality image. The filing looks awfully 'deep', and looks like it was done, after the finish was applied. Look how silvery it is. I would think that over 60+ years, the color where the filing occurred would have aged a bit, and darkened up.

Maybe an original badge, but very tampered with, I think.

Too 'iffy' for me, never-the-less.

MM

[Frank Heukemes]

Absolutely not all cast one piecers are bad, but that one is.

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

For what it's worth, I agree with both parts of Frank's last comment. The one you show appears to lack detail in areas (eg the ground around the lightning strike) and the reverse image seems to show quite a bit more "scoop" adjacent to edges than I'd be comfortable with. Then there's the filing of course, which means the "scoop" was even more pronounced. I suspect it's a good repro casting.

Regards
Mike K