I am consistently amazed by people who repeatedly buy from sellers who have a seemingly unending supply of 'rare' cap badges from supposedly old collections. There is one particular North Wales-based seller who has a limitless supply of rare badges and helmet plates but still people pay money for them. Let us be clear these are reproductions and it would be nice if that seller would use the word reproduction instead of listing them in WW1 catagories.
As a general rule 'Slidders' are not attached to genuine badges.
If a seller has sold the same rare Victorian gengarry badges and 21st Lancers badge several times over then he is selling fakes. There seem to be some gulible people out there who don't ask 'why has this chap got a limitless supply of rare VB badges or cavalry badges'. Just how many members of the LRDG do you think there were??! Always look at the feedback - if the item number is hidden then ask yourself why - it could well be to hide the fact that he has just sold the same rare glengarry badge for the tenth time in a month. There are several sellers buying from a well known repro maker on the South coast and then selling these badges as 'original'. One even describes them as 100% original when they are 100% restrike. Watch out!
One well known seller has had the badges aged with a light reddish oxidant which gives them an older look but with a distinct colour. Another fraud in the midlands seems to bury his in the garden as they all have that same dug up look even the modern patterns; The Royal Hussars badge for example was only ever made in A/A from 1969 onwards and the regt wore private purchased metal badges in the 1980s, yet he still sells aged bi-metal ones.
Look through all a sellers badges - if he is indeed selling off an old collection of originals as claimed then there should not be fakes in there. If you learn to recognise the obvious fakes and he has some of these (or another set of 20 rare 1870 Glengarry badges (again) then chances are he is offloading fakes that he has bought from a repro maker.
All beware any seller with multiple sales of the same badge. Please read my other 5 guides which specilise in one area of badges - cavalry, infantry etc
As regards WW1 Pals Badges - 11th Border Regt badges do NOT appear on ebay for a tenner! For that matter every single Birmingham pals Bn badges on Ebay in the last 4 years except for 4 have been fakes!!!! Tyneside Irish and Cardiff Pals badges were not designed as cap badges and were worn in the shoulder titles and collars - therefore either of these badges with sliders is a fake. Beware of dodgy Pals shoulder titles as these are now being produced in large amounts and sold on as originals.
WW2 Plastic economy badges are being badly faked by a supplier to reenactors on the contingent. His speciality is Parachute regt badges but also does GS (why?), Signals and a few others. the backs are poor and the brass strips appear to be cut doen file tags! The other favourite trick of dealers is to attribute RUR, SStaffs, Border, Kings Own and Devonshires as Airborne badges as worn by the a/b bns. They may may well have done so but so did the rest of the bns in far greater numbers. This con has artificially inflated the prices of these regts' badges to the dealers' benefit.
Finally maker's names were the norm post WW2. Before then they were very much the exception to the rule. If any seller's badges all have marked sliders then beware! theya re being made in the Midlands and fake marks added to deceive.
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