I received an e-mail today from a Paki fake peddler offering me a replica field marshal stick (baton) at a very low price. I get this type e-mail every day, seems they all think that because I run this web site I "must" be in the business of ripping off collectors with fakes. What a bunch of scumbags they all are!
There is nothing new about fake field marshal's batons, they've been around for years. The thing is all the fakes I know of up till now have been rather expensive, selling for several thousand dollars. However, this one is cheap... only $100. The good thing is, the maker only wants to sell them 10 at a time. I like that because it should slow his sales considerably.
Now I know that none of you experienced collectors would be fooled by this thing, but it could spell trouble for the newbie. The reason I'm posting this is because I can see the following happening. Some unscrupulous dealer buys 10 of these zonkers, goes to the trouble of "ageing" them, then puts one on his table at some small gun show at, what looks like a bargain price, and waits for the sucker to come buy. What's especially dangerous about this item is it's low price, which means more of them will probably pop up at a price new collecors will go for.
I haven't seen one of these in person, so I don't know how well they're made, but from the pics they look good enough to fool some people. So, if you see a field marshal's baton offered at a "bargain" price, watch out!
If you know about a "dangerous" fake and would like to share the info with our readers, please email me and we'll see if we can put the info on this Blog. You can remain anonymous if you wish. info@germanmilitariacollectibles.com
Bob Treend, Collector Basics, Militaria Blog, 2010
