A long time lurker, but am interested in getting some opinions. A lot of people on forums like this discuss these 'medals' pointing out that no catalogue contains them. However, I do query some of the comments here:
1. Making badges
The badge making process would require a range of (even by Chinese standards) pricey equipment including some sort of enamel dispenser, basically a small manufacturing workshop (although labour prices may be such that it is actually possible to do a lot of it by hand - the average Chinese salary is about $750). If you were to produce a big range of these on any scale, you would need a small to medium light manufacturing company.
2. These are made from copper.
I am not sure how much they weigh, but a guess would suggest around 5 gramms, maybe a bit more. The copper value in these badges and medals would be a few cent. The going rate for these medals/badges is a couple bucks a piece, maybe a bit more if someone mistakes it for a military medal. There are some other materials, and China is pretty cheap, so let's just say the materials would cost around 5-10 cents per medal/badge. That would be conservative.
3. A corrosive bath is then used
I have no idea what the cost on something like this would be. I imagine, though, per unit, the unit cost would be minimal.
4. They are then sold to dumb tourists who do not know any better.
This is possible, and - in some cases - relatively high prices may be sought.
However...
Communists loved badges and awards. The awarded people for everything (as we do in the West - buy a lot of kids medals for a few bucks for example). Communists had awards and commerative badges/medals for everything. China will have literally billions of these types of badges. But where are all of them? What were millions of peasants given for meeting quotas? What did kids collect which inspire them to serve and respect China?
With over a billion people, there should be hundreds of millions of these badges. My guess is... these are those badges. Cheap, government produced commerative badges. Only the most stupid would bother counterfeiting them. It would be like counterfeiting standard, non-rare postage stamps from the PRC (the stuff you can buy 1000s for a few dollars) or fake British Royal family regalia. You might be able to sell a handful for a few bucks to the odd intrigued tourist, but really you would be lucky to carve out a decent living (the average salary is a few hundred bucks). Remember, whoever is producing them would be running a company. Only those with nothing else to sell would try to carve out a living on these badges.
But, let's accept they are fakes. How much more money would be made if a company tried to develop a brand for contemporary Chinese propoganda badges; commerating territorial disputes, the first Chinese astronaut, the space station, etc. Collectors would be willing to pay roughly the same amount on these as they do the older ones. I just cannot accept that selling the odd badge for $20 is a sustainable business strategy, criminal or otherwise.
Anyway, thoughts? Any hard evidence that will rock my world?