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Some reproduction (fake) shoulder title insignia for the Kent County CD Mobile Reserve appeared on eBay recently (the shoulder titles plus a fake beret badge for Region XII sold for £53 plus shipping). There are marked differences in the construction, the primary being the rear of the badges and the spaghetti of thread. The colour of the thread also appears the wrong shade (though images online can have different hues). The raised and thicker letters on the fakes are thought to occur from embroidering over paper letter templates.
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The badge below for a Civil Defence Reserve (CDR) Region XII member's beret is a fake / reproduction. Several badges have appeared online for the CDR (e.g. Kent County CD Mobile Reserve shoulder titles) and white-lettered and embroidered Fire Guard insignia.  Fake Civil Defence Reserve Region XII South Eastern Beret Badge Here we have eBay's shyster-in-chief hawking a collection of his fake ARP badges. Sprinkled amongst some valueless buttons and other dross are several of the fake ARP badges that appeared several years ago. We've not seen them listed individually for quite a while (I do hope this website has been responsible in some way) but this tactic of creating an auction of a bundle of shite militaria is a tried and tested method for shifting this crud. All the ARP badges here - Westminster ARP Warden, ARP BBC London, Armstrong Siddeley Motors Ltd ARP, Castle Bromwich Assembly Factory CBAF ARP, Queens ARP Canteen, BSA ARP and AVRO ARP - are listed on the fake ARP badges page. I just hope new collectors do a little research and don't fall for this crap...  Doing the rounds again on eBay are these fake Scout ARP armbands. The same shyster seller is hawking this tat for £85 and claiming it is original. A fake stamp and writing have been added to the rear to add spurious provenance. I previously posted about these fakes earlier this year and two years ago.  Fake ARP Scout armband on eBay  Fake ARP Scout armband on eBay (rear) The below ARP Malta badge was recently sent to me and the owner was pretty sure it was a fake. My gut reaction was to agree with them going by the look of the front casting and the rear. The spate of reproduction/fake ARP badges we saw a few years ago use a specific type of modern pin and catch but the one here does use a more original-looking pin (the catch is missing). I contacted a re-enactor in Malta with an interest in the island's wartime Civil Defence. She told me that silver-hallmarked badges were available, some island-made examples were also made, possibly in the dockyards. These were simple sand cast examples. An original badge would be pressed into the sand and cast with available metals. The rear would be quite plain and smoothed off. Whether this would also create the striations seen below is currently unknown. An original silver Maltese ARP badge was previously posted on this blog.  ARP Malta Badge  Original Malta ARP badge made on the island |
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