ARP Fire Watcher Enamel Badge (And Its Doppleganger...)

The badge on the left is an original wartime R&M ARP Fire Watcher badge issued by the ball-bearing making firm of Ransome and Marles. The ampersand between the R and M is very detailed. The rear featured the half-moon lapel buttonhole fitting found on many wartime enamel badges. It's a scarce badge and appears in Jon Mills' wonderful book "Doing Their Bit - Home Front Lapel Badges, 1939-1945".

The badge on the right is a fake repro that used the design but added 'Rolls Royce' (a huge clanger as the actual company is called 'Rolls-Royce', always with a hyphen) and a weird 'R & R' in the scroll. So, along with the incorrect company name, with have modern fonts and a crappy pin and clasp rear. Copies of the badge were previously listed on eBay by a well-known shyster as an original badge and sold. These days they are hawked on the tat bazaar as "ideal for ww2 re-enactment reissue badges ,film or TV  prop" (sic). It's a complete piece of trash.

R&M ARP Fire Watcher enamle badge

Fake 'Rolls Royce' badge