The brass marking disc is like a mirage, visible on the horizon but vanishing as you get closer. About five years ago a collector in New Zealand told me that an original Navy stock with brass marking disc was coming up for sale in a small country auction some distance outside Auckland. How likely is it, I thought, that a fake would show up in such a remote and obscure location? Sensing my keen interest he volunteered to drive the 40 miles each way to take photographs. Needless to say it turned out to be a fake after all. I did save the photo of the disc...
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