I photographed the following reproduction insignia being sold as reproductions at a recent insignia show. I believe they are being made somewhere in Asia.

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Looks to me that someone has been reading The Trading Post. Another reason why I prefer not to give dimensions when publishing articles.

Looks to me that someone has been reading The Trading Post. Another reason why I prefer not to give dimensions when publishing articles.

:thumbsup: yep, agree with you on tihs point! That's better for complicated the work of counterfeiters

 

Thierry

I photographed the following reproduction insignia being sold as reproductions at a recent insignia show. I believe they are being made somewhere in Asia.

Tonomachi,

 

Boy has the embroidery quality improved on reproductions. I remember Taiwan was a big supplier some 30 years ago and the quality was really poor, most patches were individually made using a Zig-Zig sewing machine with embroidery thread and they were strictly done by hand and eye so there was wide variations. But these look like digitized designs so the stitch quality is very good and variations are to a minimum.

 

What really baffles me are the reproductions of AEF and World War I patches hand made or machine stitched using period materials like wool felt. Some of them look so good it is hard to believe they aren't genuine.

 

Buyer beware!

 

Tom

The hand embroidered wings had me going for a minute... I thought they might be legit made in Korea. But the design for the Master jump wing is wrong... and that would not be tolerated by GI's picking them up for wear.

 

The odd Ranger patch with the red, white and blue band and the green bar across the top with RANGER... I am wondering if that is a legitimate patch from the Philippine Army, which also has Ranger units? A lot of times PI Ranger items get misidentified and misrepresented as US items.

Gil-Its a remake 6th Ranger patch. Dave K just did a great article on these in ASMIC.

Didn't take long for the repros to hit the street... did it! Geez...

 

But we have seen the same thing with Vietnam era patches that have been posted in full color on the internet... I had one vendor in Vietnam tell me that was exactly what he was doing, using websites as a reference.

Another good reason why I don't collect patches as my primary hobby and never pay more than a repro price for them when I find something I like...

Just like Third Reich collectors, I feel sorry for patch collectors due to the amazing # of fakes out there now... :thumbdown:

The hand embroidered wings had me going for a minute... I thought they might be legit made in Korea. But the design for the Master jump wing is wrong... and that would not be tolerated by GI's picking them up for wear.

 

The odd Ranger patch with the red, white and blue band and the green bar across the top with RANGER... I am wondering if that is a legitimate patch from the Philippine Army, which also has Ranger units? A lot of times PI Ranger items get misidentified and misrepresented as US items.

Airborne comes at such a high premium, always higher than other units, it drives some who collect more for the fun of it to acquire those reproductions particularly if they are well made, close to the originals and affordable. My collecting habits today are rather narrowly defined. Unit of course is of prime importance, era is probably next and authentic to detail and manufacturing technique is paramount. I have no need for any fillers until the real one comes along.

 

I was the winner at eBay tonight of a genuine (confirmed by this forum) 77th Division "Liberty" made in France we think. I am anxious to see it when it arrives this week. Years ago I had a genuine District of Paris hand embroidered on black wool. I had good reason to think it was French made. This 77th is fully embroidered and looks like it was well made. I suspect the French probably could do as good of a job at embroidery as the Germans which I am particularly fond of. This will be my second 77th, the first was made on a light blue felt and could have been post-war in vintage but the Liberty is especially well executed. Stitching means a lot to me and I appreciate the beauty and significance of the design.

 

Since starting bidding at eBay I have accumulated a nice little collection of the items I like most. I have no plan to expand much beyond where I am now. I will keep my eyes open for others to add in time and will watch eBay but not spend more than a modest amount every month. I am still of the mind that $50 for any patch should be tops although I did break my own rules a couple of times.

 

Another bidder has almost consistently outbid me on the same things we both have an interest in. Tonight he let me have this 77th because I know he could have easily outbid me. He drops $400 at a time on one patch. No patch is worth that to me.

 

When I collected years ago it was an affordable hobby, most common patches were a dollar, better ones were five or ten dollars. Those days are obviously gone, many big time professional dealers and collectors now play in this sandbox. It is their game now, I'll step aside and watch and let them have their fun.

 

Tom

Thank you for the photos----repros get better all the time---Blue Skies 1st Sgt CES

Very scary work. I know the more seasoned collectors on here can pick these out easily, but the younger collectors, like myself, would be easily fooled on some of these.