Imperial Russia Badge of the 56th Zhitomir infantry regiment

[utopis]

Greetings fellow collectors,

as you can see I'm new here so please be gentle.

I got this badge a little time ago. I already presented it in another forum, sadly I got only one reply.

This badge has been doubted to be an original one so I would appreciate your opinions. As you can see I compared it with another badge. The one on the right has been sold last year on the Kabinet- auction: Link. I have to admit that the finish on the obverse may look a little bit odd but on the reverse it's perfectly golden (beneath the patina). I checked the enamel with UV-light: it kept its color so it seems to be good. The measurements are also OK. Maybe the pics aren't good enough but in real you can see that the numbers and letters are very sharp and clear. But judge by yourself!

Best regards

[utopis]

Reverse.

[paul wood]

Reverse.

Unmarked badges in non precious metal are quite difficult, about 20 years ago they presented no problem for the simple reason they were not worth faking, they were easily purchasable at a relatively small price, now that unmarked badges are making several hundred (if a rare regiment or unit even thousands) It is well worth the faker producing them and as you are probably well aware there are extremely good fakes coming out of Russia. Were it silver and hall marked it would be much easier to assess. Fake hallmarks are usually the biggest give away. From the photograph you show I cannot see anything obviously wrong with it but one would need a much higher resolution photograph to have any serious possibility of making an informed decision. I am sorry that I cannot be more exact than this but I hope my contribution is of some help.

Paul

[utopis]

Thank your for your reply!

Yes, indeed the fakes are very dangerous. Well, it's not surprising if you think how the prices on imperial Russian orders and badges went up. Luckily I bought a few month ago a new camera so I could take pictures on a higher resolution but here I'm restricted to 150kb so you can imagine why those pictures look how they look. Is there any possibility I could provide you with better images - maybe via e-mail? As long as I have this badge in my collection without clearance about it's authenticity there is always an unpleasant feeling about it so I finally want to clarify whats up with this one. It wouldn't be nice if it turns out to be a fake but I prefer to know its a fake than doubt it every time I look at it.

I watched the sells of regimental badges on the huge auction platforms a little and I came to the realization that some of those fakes are sold very often other fakes are very rare. I haven't found any other offers for this badge on the net except for this: link. As far as I'm concerned this one sells many - probably even nothing else then fakes.

[JapanX]

This one was introduced on October 7, 1911.

Original line drawing

Edited November 14, 2013 by JapanX

[JapanX]

Let`s take a look at fakes that they currently try to sell in Europe and US

[JapanX]

Another example from different "manufacturer"

[JapanX]

Obverse of original badge

[JapanX]

Original soldiers version of badge

[JapanX]

Photos of cavaliers

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

Three badges at one photo!

[utopis]

Thank you very much for your effort Nick! I'll take pictures tomorrow although post #6 says a lot...

[JapanX]

Glad you liked these photos!

[JapanX]

P.S. Officer badge in authoritative book of Patrikeev and Boinovich has same distinctive red enamel as badge in post # 8 ...

Edited November 14, 2013 by JapanX