Hello WWII collector! Anything collectable, or just about anything in general, can be faked! This deception is done with varying degrees of workmanship and quality...and is usually enhanced with a plausable story (lie) to enhance the the objects desirability! This goes on at gun shows all the time, most of the time, it is phoney stories about real stuff, but sometimes it is phoney stories about fakes and copys of desirable items! A lot of people who collect items only have two catagories in which they classify items, that is original, and reproduction... They spend a lot of time and money, on trips, books, and shows, to acquire the knowledge to decern the difference! They have for the most part, protected themselves with their knowledge...
In reality, there are more then two catagories in which objects built to the same specifications, over different periods of time can be classified! 1) of course, being the original part, built and utilized in the application and time frame it was designed for... it will usually carry the markings that relate to this time period and variation... 2) original parts, subsequently used for spares and repair, un-used store's and stock which probably still exsist even today! 3) Factory reproduction, here's where it gets tricky.. the only true reproduction of an item can be undertaken by a factory that originally produced that item in the first place, using the same tools, techniques and materials as used in the original production run, hence the term re-production 4) Replica, all other attempts to fabricate or create an already exsisting part, whether a single part, or many parts! Now there are varying degrees of replica quality, and they are made for many reasons, over a period that could span the whole life of the known part.. the best example (A) would be a part that is made to fill a contract, in which the original manufacture of that part, no longer exsists! (B) the next type would be a replica part made by another manufacture, as a spare or replacement part for a known high mortality part, and has nothing in common with the original other then appearance! (C) the next would be sub-quality parts, made simply to cash in on the need of the consumer to purchase replacement parts, and usually he gets what he pays for! (D) This last catigory is the one that causes all the grief for collectors, and that is anyone who takes any of the above, and alters it, with fake markings and numbers, and/or (this is the real important part)enhances the sale with false information in order to realize a greater profit, is guilty of fakery and fraud! BTW, I have probably made several hundred, maybe even a thousand, replica P.08 navy bottoms, you need to look at a lot of them before you can tell the difference! Better get busy! Best to you in the future! till....later....G.T. <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />