Frontier
Medals
Frontier
Medals
Fax: (+852) 21870302
PO Box 367, Ma On Shan Post Office, Hong Kong
With UK agent
Fakes, Forgeries or Copies?
China 1857 Medal Clasps
The images below are thumbnail links to the high quality photos needed to show clearly the differences between the genuine and copy clasps. Please click on the thumbnails, it may take some time for the full picture to download.
This
is a copy Taku Forts 1858 clasp. Note the poor definition on the rosettes as
well as the bubble rather than honeycomb effect on the background frosting of
the clasp. Also general poor finish of the clasp.
This
is a genuine example of the same Taku Forts 1858 clasp, note the differences
as described above in particular the honeycomb frosting.
This
is a similar copy China 1842 clasp.
This
is a genuine China 1842 clasp.
This
is a comparison of the copy clasps on the left and genuine on the right. Note
particularly the different sizing of the lettering in the Canton 1957 clasps.
Colonial Special Constabulary Medals EiiR & Colonial Police Long Service Medals
These unnamed 'copies' are being sold out of Hong Kong having been copied in Mainland China, mainly via Ebay. The are cast copies of the original item and have a poor pitted finish which should fool no one, however scans on the net can be deceptive. They are all unnamed.
Victory Medals 1914-19 (Bilingual)
Obvious fakes of the South African bilingual Victory Medal have surfaced and are pictured below. The impressed naming is different from a genuine and the edge of the rim is more rounded. The medals are also very shiny with a 'new' look and the ribbon ring is angled rather than round.
Bronze British War Medals
It appears that these are surfacing in the south of England named to various labour corps. The example below is named to the Maltese Labour Corps (MLC) and appears a very good reproduction of the real thing. However it appears too 'bright' and the condition is too good for a labour corps bronze BWM - which generally were not well looked after. Also the naming has a 'done yesterday' look to it, but the real tell tale sign is the one piece suspender. That is the ribbon bar is not a separate piece rather the entire suspender is struck from the same die.
Fraudulently Named General Service Medals
Someone appears to be obtaining genuine unnamed GSMs and naming them to decorated individuals and either selling them off as single or in made up groups with other unnamed second world war medals. The following example surfaced in Denver, USA and is probably still on the market. It is named to Act Sqd Ldr D.B. Wills - Wills ended his career as a Group Captain and was awarded a DFC in 1945. His genuine group was in Dixon's Autumn 2002 list, although the GSM in that group had a Palestine 1945-48 bar. This GSM is a genuine GVI swivel type, but the naming is fake being deep large impressed capitals running out of line with the rim of the medal.
Fraudulently Named Copy South Africa 1853
This is an example of a copy South Africa 1853 which has been fraudulently named and the word "COPY" removed. Only after cleaning could the erasure of the word "COPY" be found, see centre picture.
Fake Army of India Medal
The following fake if not altered Army of India Medal appeared on the market recently. It is named to" Lieut J. Dalziel 3rd.N.L.I". The man excisted and was entitled to the 3 clasps, but the clasps are copy clasps being too large (about 0.4 centimetres) and the gaps between the clasps differ in size. The impressed naming is in capitals which are far too large and in fact, Dalziel was in the 4rd N.L.I. not 3rd N.L.I.
Air Crew Europe Stars - spotting the genuine from copies
This excellent site hosted by Ian Hartley points out what to look for on Air Crew Europe Stars.
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The above is posted as general information. Should anyone have scans on information of other fake or forged medals I would be happy to include them and/or the information on this site for the benefit of other visitors.
Stephen Verralls
Acknowledgments :
Ed Paquette http://members.shaw.ca/jollytar/
Paul Baillie
North West Medal www.northwestmedal.com
Peter Jansen
Ian Hartley
Michael Wong