The Schrägstich Faker Chronicles

[drspeck]

Almost missed another one of his accounts with the following items 😅

 

 

By the way, these uploads are quite big in image size. I'd hate to be the one to crash the website because of filled storage space 😅 Am I, are we stil in the clear here?

[VtwinVince]

Thanks for the update, some of these are getting scary-good, unfortunately.

[drspeck]

Recently added on ebay

 

[drspeck]

Latest additions on ebay

 

[Simius Rex]

1 hour ago, SAXONY said:

what do you think about this work?

 

This is a classic example of the work of the Schrägstich Faker.  Note his signature Schräg-Sticherei (diagonal stitiching) of the backing cloth.  This is exactly how this prolific fraudster got his name.

 

There is German Forum (SDA) where the Schrägstich-Faker's products are routinely discussed. However, only links to eBay auctions in Germany are posted as references.  When those auctions and photos disappear from eBay's database after 90 days, those discussions of these fakes on SDA will become utterly useless! 

 

Only here, on GMIC, will collectors have a comprehensive database of photos documenting these abominations that seem to be fooling even experienced collectors.    

[drspeck]

1 hour ago, SAXONY said:

what do you think about this work?

 

 

4 minutes ago, Simius Rex said:

This is a classic example of the work of the Schrägstich Faker.  Note his signature Schräg-Sticherei (diagonal stitiching) of the backing cloth.  This is exactly how this prolific fraudster got his name.

 

On the emedals website you can find archived (previously sold) examples of Alberts orders if you want to do a comparison.

[Philip.S]

Hello,

I am relatively new to this world of medals, and like to collect Hungarian items, where there luckily don't seem to be many fakes, but ,sadly, I would have been fooled by quite a lot of these, so is there a good reference book out there that someone would recommend?

Many thanks,

Philip.s

[VtwinVince]

I think the best reference source is a forum such as this one, and the collective experience gained by serious collectors.

[Philip.S]

Thank you!

[drspeck]

Recently added

 

[drspeck]

latest additions

 

[drspeck]

Latest batch on Ebay. These are not all the items by the way on ebay; the seller is in his current auctions re-using photo's from previous auctions and some of those photo's have already been posted here so there's no need to re-upload those.

 

 

 

[VtwinVince]

Again, these run the gamut from pretty good to crappy. Another reason why I've quit collecting.

[ostprussenmann_new]

These are all scary good.

These are all scary good.

These are all scary good.

[bolewts58]

2 hours ago, ostprussenmann_new said:

These are all scary good.

These are all scary good.

These are all scary good.

Well, yes. But, if you know what to look for, the illusion falls apart.

 

I do note that the latest addition to many of the pin-back crosses is a very unconvincing, over-sized Meybauer mark not to mention the Wagner mark on the back of the tank badge is a joke. But, still, these continue to fool less experienced collectors. To make matters worse, these are sold not just by the same seller with multiple accounts, but by other crooks as well, such as Marc Poredda (Porre81, kruemmelmix) who has a fondness for the over-use of chemical aging and somber black backgrounds.

[Great Dane]

One question that puzzles me (I know nothing about Imperial German decorations):

Speaking of the one faker in question, are all the fakes of a specific decoration identical or does he even have variations in his fakes?

[drspeck]

27 minutes ago, Great Dane said:

One question that puzzles me (I know nothing about Imperial German decorations):

Speaking of the one faker in question, are all the fakes of a specific decoration identical or does he even have variations in his fakes?

 

There is variation. Take for example the Gallipoli stars. All the ones posted in this thread differ slightly from each other, whether it's front or the back or both.

[ostprussenmann_new]

17 hours ago, bolewts58 said:

Well, yes. But, if you know what to look for, the illusion falls apart.

 

I do note that the latest addition to many of the pin-back crosses is a very unconvincing, over-sized Meybauer mark not to mention the Wagner mark on the back of the tank badge is a joke. But, still, these continue to fool less experienced collectors. To make matters worse, these are sold not just by the same seller with multiple accounts, but by other crooks as well, such as Marc Poredda (Porre81, kruemmelmix) who has a fondness for the over-use of chemical aging and somber black backgrounds.

First apologize for triple post, error in my phone.

 

there are some easier ones that I can pick out like EKs and Baden awards, but some of those Turkish stars, an award that I want to own, some are very hard to decipher.

 

on another note, we know Imperial German and TR German are heavily faked; we know US airborne WWII is faked, but surprisingly post wwii through even the gwot is being faked for common items. It is just sad.

 

I found a post- Vietnam era common patch on a period fatigue shirt just the other day.  I laugh at people faking GWOT stuff; especially the Iraqi stuff.

 

thanks for your response.

[Simius Rex]

It is true, that the faker discussed here is not the only dealer selling fake German material.  What distinguishes the Schrägstich Faker from all the other con-artists is that he/she is a prolific assembler and producer of reproduction medal bars using these fake medals and modern ribbons. 

 

The sewing- and mounting-styles of these medal bars are identical to one another making them relatively easy to identify as his/her products.  

Edited January 9, 2023 by Simius Rex

[drspeck]

Another huge pile of garbage currently on ebay

 

 

[drspeck]

[VtwinVince]

This thread is starting to take up a lot of band width. I get more depressed each time I view this material.

[drspeck]

3 hours ago, VtwinVince said:

This thread is starting to take up a lot of band width. I get more depressed each time I view this material.

 

If actual bandwith and storage are a problem, I think there are tools to mass shrink images, to reduce image sizes, I could look into that.

 

I will leave it up to the forum to decide if you do not want to see any more of these and if so I will stop posting.

[Simius Rex]

The purpose of this thread is to chronicle the output of fakes and forgeries from a single producer that will undoubtedly impact the collecting community for countless decades to come.  It is the only online forum with such an important and comprehensive data base featuring these fakes. 

 

Therefore, it is vital that posting photographs of these items continue as long as the fakes continue flooding the market.  I believe that Dr Speck is providing an extremely important service that will benefit the collecting community long after we are all gone and forgotten.

 

None of the moderators have objected to these photographs being posted.  I imagine they would have mentioned something by now if the file sizes were too large. 

 

I would strongly advise against reducing the pixel sizes of these images.  Most of these pieces are so well executed that seeing the fine details of these pieces is crucial to being able to identify and distinguish them from originals. 

 

I think we should all express our gratitude to Dr Speck for his continued effort to keep us informed about these abominations.

[drspeck]

Recently posted on ebay, note the printed eagle

 

 

Other pieces recently posted