Reproduction Police Eagles

[W.Unland]

Hello,

It has been a while since I explored the world of fake police eagles so I will here share my collected data regarding the reproductions that flood the collector's market.

Firstly, there have been reproduction sleeve eagles since the 1960's. Luckily, at that time police material was not in much demand and the reproduction market was limited and the products generally very BAD and easy to spot as reproductions. Unfortunately, in the last few years as the SS collecting field has been priced out of ordinary collector's hands and has been virtually taken over by very good reproductions, the police have become of interest as an "SS-lite". For some reason, being under the authority of Himmler has suddenly turned the civil police into an area of collecting of interest to those previously only attracted to the "dark side".

As police insignia has become more desirable and the prices have risen their interest to forgers has likewise risen, and scores of fakes have hit the market in the last few years. Some easily discernible as such, some very convincing.

In this short discussion I will "present" eagles that I feel are reproduction, but will NOT compare them to originals, nor point out specific points of interest. Unfortunately, the forger reads this forum and has in response to some posts attempted to correct some errors pointed out here.
Where applicable I will note that authentic eagles of similar pattern do exist. If I know you from the forum I will be happy to share the differences, privately.

This eagle is the fake most commonly encountered being sold as "real". There is no authentic eagle of this pattern. It has been "created" using real eagles as a loose reference. It's construction is very good, and the quality of embroidery is good.

[W.Unland]

This eagle has been around for a long time and can be found sewn down to otherwise authentic tunics on a regular basis. Originally it was sold without any "names" but recently these have been added to enhance desirability. These are earlier examples without names. They come in all colors, including fantasy colors and backings.

[W.Unland]

Here is what the reverse looks like. Notice the white "filled in" central area. We will see this again:

[W.Unland]

Here is a "fantasy" colored eagle in this pattern proving that it was never utilized suring the period. Like all of the early examples of this repro, this eagle is "centered" on a roundish oval of backing.

[W.Unland]

Here is a photo of a collection once offered to me that is made up predominantly of this type of repro:

[W.Unland]

The next most commonly encountered reproduction is the "famous" repro. This was the finest repro made until very recently and it has fooled many, many collectors. This eagle is VERY similar to an authentic pattern and was clearly copied from an original. The earliest examples, like that shown here, were embroidered on authentic used police green wool, probably harvested from cut up overcoats and such. Consequently they are very convincing with moth tracking and bites.

The "thready" appearance of the embroidery was the first suggestion that this eagle may not be what it purported to be. Unfortunately it was confirmed to be a reproduction by a German dealer's insistance on selling it as such for 12Euro. But that was a number of years ago and these are now sold as "originals".

[W.Unland]

As the forger's supply of authentic wool was depleted he switched to a modern grayish material. The "tightness" of the embroidery also suffered in this second generation edition.

[W.Unland]

Like the previous reproduction this guy makes the mistake of producing this fake in "fantasy" colors, proving that they were never used during the period. Lime green and pink were very poor choices. Also notice that like most of the earlier repros these are centered on the oval.

[W.Unland]

Here is the reverse of one of the first generation of this repro. Notice anything?

[W.Unland]

And the reverse of a second generation. Again a similar "filled" in body, this time in brown which was used instead of white as the bobbin thread in the embroidery machine:

[W.Unland]

There was actually a third, but unsuccessful edition of this repro. It is shown here. Same basic pattern with an obvious attempt to make it closer to the original in the sharpness of the pattern and some specific details lacking in the other versions. Notice the artificial moth "grazing" which I suspect was done by "shaving" the wool.

[W.Unland]

The reverse...........something similar going on here?

[W.Unland]

You may ask how I can say that this eagle is a tweaked version of the preceeding eagle as they are really quite different. Looking closely at the wing details, there are these three lines common to both.

[W.Unland]

After the above eagle was exposed as a reproduction, and sales fell off, the reproducer switched to a new pattern which he is still producing. It is a VERY good reproduction, perhaps his best, and really difficult to detect on first examination. It is very well made, and very similar to an authentic eagle pattern.

This particular example was offered by a German dealer as a reproduction, so it's authenticity cannot be debated. He had it in all colors, although recently it is no longer available as our repro er has moved on to other patterns.

[W.Unland]

Another example: