Fake Ford plant badges continue to haunt internet markets and auctions.

[Terry Bond]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114461731629?ViewItem=&item=114461731629

Here is yet another example of the fake Ford plant badges that have been on the market for years.  People sell them without doing the research, (or perhaps they are intentionally ripping folks off?}, and as P.T Barnum once pointed out - people will continue to buy them.  Darned shame.

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited October 25, 2020 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[keiser31]

You can tell the difference between real and fake radiator ornaments, too. The "pewter" look is a dead giveaway.

[TerryB]

There should be a guide to show and tell how to identify fake badges, license plate toppers, radiator ornaments and so on.  eBay is full of stuff like that.  Oh and include porcelain signs sold as original.

[TheMoneyPit]

Here’s that guide:

 

Don’t trust anything that you don’t know 110% is genuine, ESPECIALLY ON EBAY!!!

[Terry Bond]

Best thing is to learn from Posts on the forum. There is also a need to do some individual research. One good thing about evil bay is the ability to search for similar items, even completed sales.  If there are a lot of the same item turning up, it's obviously not rare.  See "brass automobile horn" for example. Sadly, many vendors think they are real antique automobile horns and ask lots for them. Even sadder is some poor suckers spend lots for them. Networking with other collectors is also vital and these forums provide that ability.

I've been a watch fob collector for a long time and still learned a lot from other collectors here.

 Sad to say, so much is being faked/reproduced and newly fabricated that nearly everything should be considered as possibly fraudulent.  There are reputable dealers out there but sometimes even they don't know for sure exactly what they are selling. 

In this case the seller of the Ford badge obviously thinks just because it has a number stamped on the back it's got to be real. 

Another problem area has long been the dealers selling fake porcelain signs from India.

Fakers get crafty and for these Ford plant secutity badges, it's common knowledge the object is a total fantasy item.  Ford never made, bought or used badges like this, so all are fraudulent. I'll bet Ford didn't authorize brand usage for them either.

Terry

[60FlatTop]

Even if it was real that eagle looks a little too European to me. Makes me think "Villow Run".

 

Kind of like the license plate for my flagship BMW.

[Mark Wetherbee]

I wrote this up for our club newsletter a few months ago:

 

The Ford Collectible of the Quarter 

This time around I’d like to show you some Ford Collectables to be very weary of. These security and guard badges started showing up in the mid 1990’s at Hershey and very thankfully I didn’t have enough cash with me at the time I saw the first one. By the end of the show a few days later I counted several of them for sale and by this time was sure that something was wrong as it was something I had never seen before that was suddenly plentiful. A few weeks later one of the antiques newspapers printed an article about the fraudulent pieces in an attempt to stop the misrepresentation of these as genuine. I will say they probably started out as a made in China fantasy item meant to be a novelty that was almost immediately misrepresented by unscrupulous dealers bent on defrauding the collectors market. Now they seem to be making another round!

I want to state that these pictures are of completed sales through eBay and represent real money being traded for fantasy items. People are still being defrauded by these fantasies...

The first two pictures Below (5 badges) shows the variety of the first of these fantasy badges that suddenly appeared on the market. Something to note, these are not marked by any maker on the back, they are not numbered with a “badge number”, and the enameled portion is attached to the front in a rather obvious way.

These next two badges pictured were recently sold on eBay. Once again there’s the feeling of a rerun of the past fraudulent items. First, they look very bright and new with no wear whatsoever. The enameling is attached to the badge, and once again there is no badge number to identify the officer who it was issued to, nor any makers marks on the items. Originally my speculation based on experience was that these were another fantasy item made very recently, but Charlie Little informs me that the one without the supervisor added is listed as being a genuine badge from the 1980 and newer years but there is a possibility that the supervisor badge is also a fantasy or reproduction item. The enamel on these two is black, and there is a similar blue enameled badge that was used in the 1970’s according to Charlie’s book.

Here’s the only original badge I have found for myself. Mine has a Illinois state shield in the center and not an enameled embellishment, plus it was marked by the prestigious badge maker “C.H.Hanson Co. Chicago” on the back. This particular one was for the “Aircraft Engine Division” in Chicago which was open from 1951 to 1959 and is pictured here for comparison. There’s a second variation of this same badge without the maker’s identification but retaining the Illinois state shield and numbering on the front. Which is believed to have been issued towards the latter half of that division’s span.

As for this last variation, I don’t think I need to make any comments. You can see it is 100% fantasy and the seller is not trying to misrepresent it in any way...

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Mark Wetherbee
Pictures out of order (see edit history)

[Terry Bond]

Thanks for adding this great info Mark. Hopefully it'll save some unsuspecting potential buyer from getting burned.  I spoke recently with another collector of automobilia and he states he actually emailed the seller of the badge in my original post.  He said the seller is absolutely convinced it's genuine.  He apparently feels because there is a number stamped on the back that makes it real. Plus he allegedly stated that because of the age of the collection it came from he is certain of its authenticity.  Funny-no, real sad.  He may never wonder why the Ford script is on a round background instead of the traditional oval. 

 

The thieves making these phony badges have become crafty over the years they've been in the market.  When they first appeared, they were all marked as coming from the "Bellview" plant.  Bellview is a small community with a population of about 1200 and is located near my home town, Battle creek.   An Aunt there one had an antique store, but there certainly isn't a Ford plant!  Later, since people began to figure out that a badge for a non-existent factory might not be real,  they began to produce badges with other locations like "Willow Run."   Then, collectors began to discover that there was no serial number on the badge that would have been present when the badge was issued to a real employee - so, some begin to appear with a number stamped on the back.  They've yet to appear with a forged (or fictitious) manufacturers name on them.  I suppose that's the next step in the evolution of these fraudulent rip offs.

Terry

[Flathed52]

So there are no real Ford Security badges that are genuine?  

[Terry Bond]

Right - none like these anyway-they are fantasy items, i.e. something that never really existed in the time period it is alleged to have been produced or used in or for the purpose claimed.  While I'm aware some people sell them claiming they don't know, IMHO "stupid" is not an excuse.  They only reason they were ever produced was to rip people off. 

 

I strongly recommend collectors obtain a copy of the Ford V8 Club published book on Ford plant and other badges.  It contains a full section on reproductions, fakes, fantasy items and forgeries.

Terry

Edited November 12, 2020 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[Mark Wetherbee]

If you look at my pictures the AED badge is what to look for, it should have a division name and the state shield in the center. If you do a google search for “Ford plant protection badge” and look through the images you can find several pictures of them as well as hundreds of these fantasy ones. 

[Mark Wetherbee]

I agree that book is worth buying if you are researching any of the Ford badges, including the fantasy ones. The scarcer Ford badges bring big money and there’s a few good reproduction pieces because of it. It is very much buyer beware on any of these items!
 

I just did a completed auction list on eBay, these are the only two original security badges I found that sold in the last 3 months. There’s probably been 20+ fantasy badges listed in the same time...