Warning to
collectors who buy goods on internet auction sites.
Collectors
of Koevoet and Rhodesian badges must be warned that they never wore metal arm
flashes/shields at any time. The Koevoet and Rhodesian arm flashes/shields that
turn up on eBay and other internet auctions sites are all recently made
commemorative badges, never worn. These, and many other arm
flashes, South West African pocket flashes and Executive Outcomes pocket
and beret badges are being reproduced in Pretoria. At least one
trader on eBay, south*africa, lists them as
commemorative, so you know what you are buying, but others deliberately avoid
doing so and catch unsuspecting collectors.
This South West African Police Task Force
arm flash is believed to be a wall plaque flash that has had pins fitted. When
I visited the SWAPOL TF in 1986 they were only wearing cloth patches, no metal
flashes. Also, this one has been made as a flash, has had pins fitted, and is a
newly made flash with colours inverted. The writing, highlights and backing
should all be in brass and the black and yellow details should the other way
around, that is the hyenas should be black, and all the yellow sections of the
diamond should also be black and the black sections yellow. This badly made fake South West Africa
Specialist Unit is another newly made fake on the market.
Other
badges being reproduced are the 32 Battalion beret and collar badges in
both brass, supposedly 1st issue, and in chromed metal. There was never any
brass 32 Bn badges worn, they were an infantry battalion and wore chromed
badges like all other infantry badges. A couple of these badges came out
of the factory without being chromed and unfortunately ended up in a book on
South African badges, listed as 1st issue. This has led some unscrupulous
traders to have non-chromed badges made up. There is also a
complete set of 32 Battalion flashes, full size, pocket size and
affiliation pocket fob size in metal being reproduced, as well as their
Company flashes, which were never made or worn during their existence.
Also, the 32 Battalion Association has had beret badges made up for members who
have lost their badges over the years. These are castings and each one is
numbered.
Recce
Operator badges and combination Operator/Combat Diver badges in cloth are also
being faked. These are fairly easy to spot because the handle of the combat
knives are very wide and bulge to one side. Most of these also have a plastic
backing to the badge. A new set of fakes of the Operator and combination
Operator/Combat Diver badges had just appeared on the market, see copied
below. These are more accurately
made. The Warrant Officer of the
Special Forces rank badges are being faked in both black background and maroon
background, both embroidered in fine lurex wire. The Junior Recce wings
are also being faked, see an example of one below.
These
Recce cloth beret badges below are also fakes.
The black and green Infantry beret bar, or balkie, is also a newly made
fake, made with a Lucite covering when it should be proper enamel. This Recce beret bar is also a newly made
fake.
More
cloth Recce tracksuit and other patches are being faked as well. Below are the
1 Recce, 2 Recce and 4 Recce fake tracksuit badges with Lurex wire borders. The
Pamwe Chete patch is very close to the original but has a wider blade and
handle of the dagger and the yellow inside the snakes mouth is too orange,
should be yellow. The 5 Recce Church patch is on a maroon background and it
should be purple, and the white teeth are not as long as the originals.
The
plastic embossed on nutria flashes, or tupperware flashes, as they are commonly
known, are also being reproduced.
So far I
have seen 1 and 5 Recce, both with the compass rose colours back to
front; all the 32 Battalion and all three 61 Mechanised Battalion Group
flashes, as well as the S.A. Police Air Wing and Task Force flashes, in both
blue and green back grounds, as well as some of the Koevoet flashes. With the
Recce flashes you will see that the top command bar is not aligned with the
flash itself, something that would never have been passed by authorities.
These SAP Dog Unit and Special Task Force arm flashes are also newly designed and made commemorative flashes, not official issue items.
These “Vlakplaas” Police parachute wings are also the figment of someones imagination.
The
Mechanised Infantry metal beret flash, or balkie, is also being reproduced in
both the 1st pattern green/yellow/black and the 2nd
pattern green/black/green, both with the Ratel too far to one side, not
centred. The 61 Mechanised Battalion cap badge is also being
reproduced. Also the set of 31 Battalion badges below.
Do a search on closed lots on these items, and you will quickly see who is selling them, and the amount that have passed through their hands over the last few months, far too many rare badges for one man to turn up.
Below are some faked metal arm flashes and pocket fob badges. The originals all have the compass rose and whatever design goes above pressed out into the metal. All these decals on metal backings are fakes. The first indication of a newly made arm flash is the brilliant white, which, on the original, old flashes, fairly quickly turned to a light ivory colour. I am told that some sellers are now putting these arm flashes into their oven and warming them up to make the white more the ivory colour.
The 45 Parachute Brigade arm flashes are also fakes, not prototypes, as many sellers list them. Never officially made by the army. One of these, shown below, is just a copy of the old 1st pattern 2 Recce arm flash and has had the colours changed. Also, 2 Recce changed their design before the Recces became 45 Parachute Brigade or Special Forces.
Whoever is making the flashes must have a contact inside the factory that made flashes for the army as some are made with the original dies, but they seem not to be able to get the colours right. With this 1 Para arm flash, below, left, the green is the wrong shade of green. They are also making the maroon range of 44 Para arm flashes, also with the wrong shade of maroon, more a dark brown/maroon, as well as the whole range with either a red background or a black background, neither of which were ever worn. They are also making the three Company arm flashes, Dispatcher, Anti-Tank and Pathfinder, in the off shade of maroon, in red and in black. Please dont be fooled by these. The only red background para arm flash worn was the first pattern 3 Para ones.
A new fake para wing I have seen for sale is the 1960s to early 1970s cloth wings, see copied below. This should not have an embroidered edge and the blue feathers in the middle of the wings should be feather shaped, not an embroidered ridge like around the top of the wings. Also two 1 Parachute Battalion beret badges being faked.
A seller on eBay, is selling these wings as Rhodesian Light Infantry para wings, as well as these fake 1 Parachute Bn and South West Africa Parachute Bn beret badges and this 6 Recce patch. 6 Recce never wore any patch like this at any stage, can you imagine an ex-SAS soldier wearing the SAS badge upside-down? He also sells fakes of most of the Rhodesian Brigade patches, the buffalo, elephant, rhino and lion and this Congo Mercenary 10 Commando patch.
Below is a fake of the Rhodesian Police Emergency Unit, the Rhodesian SWAT unit, on the left, and an original on the right.
I am happy to check photos of any badges that you want to buy before you bid on them.
This seller, Michael J. Allsopp, trading as "michael34810", "avril390", "sunshine_x10", "simone10_16", "jr-st", eBay stores JRs Store, CAPBADGE & MEDALS4U, email address mickallsopp@msn.com, sells fakes/repros/castings, and hides the fact that you are buying a "copy" after the description of the item he is selling, and not in the description itself, where most decent people would list it. I bought a Rhodesian General Service Medal from him. His description read "IN GOOD ORDER MAY NEED CLEANING SIZE IS 5CM STAMPED ON RIM 725572 A/CPL K. BOTHMA". Any medal that has a name stamped on the rim should be original. He did not state that this is a casting and that the name is on the rim because it is cast in, not stamped in. Half way down his payment methods he states, "IF NOT STATED AS GENUINE IN TITLE THE ITEM IS BEING SOLD AS COPY OR RESTRIKE OR WHATEVER YOU WISH TO CALL ITEM, ALSO NOTE ITEM IS MADE FROM UNKNOWN BASE METAL APROX AGE 1900-1999". He is now also selling castings of the Selous Scouts beret badge and had a casting of a Selous Scouts Rhodesian General Service Medal listed on eBay. Something he does is have most of his lots as "Private Listings". I was also not able to leave feedback for some reason. Avoid this crook.
Another one to avoid, eBay user name cunnard, who sells patches, para wings and shoulder titles "bought in the early 1950s", is Alan Wilkie, email address KINGSMAN3@aol.com, of 69 Kindle Lane, Levittown, PA 19055, USA. After me querying whether these are original items again, and even though all the items I bought are WWII period items, he replies that "patches are not advertised as ww2 original patches". Read his descriptions carefully. Do an eBay search on his user name and see his stock, 99.9% fakes, made mostly in India. He regularly lists these fake LRDG shoulder titles.
Something pointed out to me is this "Extreme Makeover" of a Queens Crown RAF pilot wings, eBay lot 290146551061 bought on 12 August 2007 by gayt1, converted into "A very rare double wing Air Gunner brevet from World War Two.", eBay lot 260150944166, listed by the same gayt1. Listing closed on 24 August 2007, reserve not met.
Look at
the "dip" in the right hand wing and the missing cotton on the
bottom right hand wing tip/feathers, also, on the "AG makeover" you
can actually see the holes where the old black stitches were on the reverse
when you compare it to the original in the top photo. He seems to have taken
some of the padding out from behind the Crown and "stretched" higher
to make it look like an older Crown.
As of 17 November 2008 I am told that gayt1 has been suspended from eBay, but this does not stop him from registering under a new user name with new information.