The highly sought after Speedwell bonnet / boot badge is one of the most common fakes about, I have seen these fakes passed off on ebay for as much as $150! If you don't want to be ripped off this is what to look for.
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Genuine Badges (Front). Both of these badges are genuine, the first (top) has no paint infill and is only Chromed, the one below is identical but the background has been filled with matt / satin black paint. Original badges were also supplied in matt light yellow. However, the presence or not of a bit of paint has no bearing on whether a badge is or is not genuine! Length = 124.5mm Height (at max point) = 20.5mm |
Other points worth noting are that all the lettering is very well defined with good sharp corners & no indistinctness in the casting. The background MUST have a slightly dimpled appearance, this is most clearly seen on the non painted badge, but should also be visible on a painted version. Finally the border will in almost all cases be an even thickness all the way round.
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Genuine Badges (back). The following points should be noted;
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1) Makers Name: J Fray. LTD
2) British Standards Number: BS.1004.
3) Part No: D.S. 635. B.
Once again the casting quality of the back is a fairly high standard, although it is not as good as the front. It is not uncommon to find a badge that has one or more pin broken off, these pins are fragile and if you are planning on fixing a badge to a vehicle, I would strongly recommend the use of double sided tape or "Sikaflex" rather than the original pins and clips.
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Fake Badge (Front) This is a typical fake, the picture was lifted from ebay about 10 minutes ago, Note how the lettering looks rounded even in this relatively low definition picture, the sides are more rounded, in fact the overall shape of the badge is totally wrong, |
