101st Airborne rare patch warning

[mortaydc60]

Saw this today listen on Ebay. Tough variation to find that usually sells for near $1000 historically. It just did not look right and the back confirmed my belief. Here it is and advise to stay away. The seller has other very nice items for sale but this is not one of them.

[donaldnol]

9 hours ago, mortaydc60 said:

Saw this today listen on Ebay. Tough variation to find that usually sells for near $1000 historically. It just did not look right and the back confirmed my belief. Here it is and advise to stay away. The seller has other very nice items for sale but this is not one of them.

what would be the problem with it, i'am a 101 patch collector i need to know?

[ASMIC2971]

4 minutes ago, donaldnol said:

what would be the problem with it, i'am a 101 patch collector i need to know?

Biggest give away is the reverse, if you look at the embroidery of that you will see it’s constant with modern fakes coming out of Asia and not period pieces.

[CUBUSMC]

Definitely a repro, just need to compare it to a real one that is US made

 

 

[CUBUSMC]

I am not a 101st Airborne collector, that being said, it is one of the cooler patches ever made and of course subject to so many fakes.  I believe there are a few websites out there that will help a screaming eagle collector.  Perhaps someone can post those.  This Forum is also a great reference for these.  This is where I quickly found this picture. - Jeff

[GIKyle]

This is the foundational work.  Many have built off this but Mark Bando is the preeminent in my book.  Other good references in his site aside from Eagle Patches.  https://www.101airborneww2.com/eaglepatchcorner.html

 

Kyle

[mortaydc60]

Here is pic of real one that sold and also shows the back of the patch. Note the distinct difference between the fake and the real. The fake has the typical Asian look with no regularity or order to the stitching. One of the classic things we used to say about WW2 patches was to look for "snow" on the back of the patch. This is basic stuff to learn and after learning should be pretty simple to tell the difference. Also the eye is completely wrong and the shape of the head is off .Not to mention the threads stcking out on the edges. Go to school on the fake patch that started the [ost and it will save you from getting burned in the future.

 

Mort

[ocsfollowme]

Yes, Mark Bando's site provides a lot of great information, but it does NOT show reverses of patches. As reproductions get better, it is important for higher quality photos of the front and reverse to be shown. So hopefully, more collectors are educated, to keep reproductions being passed off as originals. 

 

That is why this forum is key, for top educators to post photos of what is real. 

[mortaydc60]

Thanks Steve, so now I am a top educator besides being an old grouch. Excellent point about Mark Bandos site about the backs not shown which is critical now in detecting fakes and county/area of origin. 

[Allan H.]

We go back to the entire argument about every time the "tells" for determining a fake are communicated, the better the next generation of fakes get.

 

Personally, I don't necessarily think that it is necessary to see the back side of the patch if you know what you are looking at. 

 

Allan

[Bill Scott]

The backs are not for the educated they are for the new guys that do not have the experience that some of us do.If it were up to me backs would be mandatory on all postings.We all make mistakes but I think the number of the item should be posted so we know who has the item. Just my two cents worth.

 

 

[mortaydc60]

   Allan you are correct for you that you dont need to see the backs,but very few on forum have your wealth of knowledge and years of experience. As Bill suggests this is mainly of help to the new collectors and agree that the backs should be shown in most cases when exposing fakes. Point taken on providing number  on Ebay but do not want to spoon feed the information since it is not much  of an effort to find item described, it is called research. Hope that Allan is wrong that fakers really use this info to improve the manufacturing to fool us; just think there is just too much to change in most cases and not worth the effort to alter machines is my belief and hope.