RAF Bomb Aimers Badge

[MadJackFlash]

Not really my area of interest but I have been asked if these are genuine - any help would be appreciate,  I have put the DAK eagle in another forum but.......

 

Thanks 

 

Jack

[Jerry B]

The Luftwaffe tropical eagle is a fake.  the pound looks OK, not sure on the half wing.

[MadJackFlash]

Thanks Jerry - that was the conclusion I had come to - the pound looks ok to me too :-)

[Mervyn Mitton]

Jack  -  a lot of these WW2 assignment insignia ere quite quickly made  -  and this carried over to South Africa, Rhodesia and Australia.     If their are flaws in this one I don't readily see them  -  so perhaps it's origins are not so suspect.   Worth opinions from other members ?

Now the Pound coin  -  a shifty item these days that buys  less then it promises.   Also, at one time the Spanish peso looked and weighed the same , but cost 50%................  Mervyn

[peter monahan]

OFF TOPIC  When I lived in Toronto in the 1980sour 'quarters' [25 cent pieces] had the same weight and obverse as a large number of coins from the various West Indian commonwealth members.  Not surprising, as most were mad by the Canada Coin Company in Ottawa.  However, they regularly turned up in change in the school cafeteria after some of my students had gone on hols.  Most were worth 6-8-10 cents Cdn but I used to collect them from the staff.  

[Michael R]

Hi, The brevet is, in my opinion, quite right.  A word of caution though.  Most RAF issue brevets were carried as stock at 14 MU RAF Carlisle until the seventies so to find a long obsolete brevet in mint condition is far from impossible. Also, for Other Ranks up to and including Warrant Officer, the badges are a free issue item on change of uniform etc.  However for Officers, they can be either privately purchased or purchased from RAF stock.  This means that theoretically, when privately buying a brevet of any designation, the buyer can purchase from any manufacturer, tailor or collector's shop.  So to use quality and condition as criteria for authenticity is quite incorrect. I have seen some very spurious looking brevets worn on both uniform and flying suits etc.  Another thing to be borne in mind is that "in theater" insignia will also turn up and some of these items look totally wrong but aren't.

Hope this is of interest to you

Cheers Michael D

[peter monahan]

This illustrates the oft stated problem of 'long distance authentication', which is two fold:  no photo is a substitute for having the item in one's hand and, perhaps more importantly, 'calling it' can best be done after one has handled many many like it, real or fake.

I still have a strong interest in the badegs of the Imperial [dirty word!] Indian Army but, as I live in North America, almost all I see are 'one off's and in many many cases I would be very reluctant to put out much money, not because i think them fake but because I simply can't tell.  That said, of course, it's also very easy for me to offer opininons on forums like this one as it costs me nothing to do so!

Pontification over!