Small
Fuess Badge
The large Deschler badge is usually accompanied by a small Fuess badge with the same number. This in itself would not be cause for concern, because many genuine sets consist of badges from more than one manufacturer - one Deschler, one Fuess.
This new fake is by far the most convincing and first serious reproduction of the Fuess Golden Party Badge. It is a very complex badge, and so its successful copying has eluded the fakers - until now.
As shown in the photo to the right, the fake uses similar materials and measurements, has the correct "floating" swastika, and the wreath has the correct number of laurel leaves on a background of "ties" or "railway tracks". Frequently these badges are artificially aged to obscure some details and deficiencies.
The lettering on the face of these new fakes is not correct. Fuess badges use a very distinctive, thin, almost "spidery" font, with variations in thickness in a single letter. The letter "I" is almost like a spike, and the legs of the "H" are very thin, almost ending in a point. As well, in originals the "O" in SOZIALISTICHE is almost rectangular, and the top of the "P" in "D.A.P." is almost square. The fake has not copied this style of lettering at all, and uses a very uniform font, likely copied from another excellent Fuess copy from the early 1980s (see below).
Again the red enamel on the copy is not the same quality of originals. On genuine badges it is translucent like red glass. These fakes have red enamel that is more opaque making it difficult to see the stippling underneath.
Most of these new fakes appear to have a flaw in the die that makes them easy to identify - if you know what to look for. Circled above you can see faint raised lines on top of the laurel leaves, as if the ties show through. This should never appear on genuine badges.
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Examples
of the distinctive font used on genuine Fuess badges. The letter
"I" is almost like a spike, and the legs of the "H"
are very thin, almost ending in a point. As well, in originals the
"O" in SOZIALISTICHE is almost rectangular. The dash between
the "L"and the "S" almost touches the tail of
the "S".
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The reverse of the new fake Fuess is extremely well done, with few indications for the casual collector. Unlike the large Deschler reproduction, the fake small Fuess uses a more convincing form of numbering - the "3" is rounded at the top and the numbers are generally wider and rounder. The numbers on the small fake Fuess badges however are stamped, showing a characteristic puckering around the edges of the numbers where the excess metal has been pushed to one side by the stamping process. "Impressed" numbers, as in the original badge, do not show this.
The pin plate is excellently done in the fake with only very subtle differences. First of all, the words are slightly too large when compared to originals. In the fake, the "C" in "MUNCHEN" is too tall and thin, whereas in originals it is more round. As well, in originals the entire logo is more often than not stamped slightly off-center - up and to the left - whereas the fake has the logo centered in the pin plate.
There is also an earlier fake Fuess badge that appears to have come out of Austria in the 1980s, and was for a while accepted in the collecting community as genuine because it was so well made. This fake Fuess badge shares a lot of the same characteristics as the recent fakes, but does not have the lines on top of the laurel leaves. It does have the wrong uniform lettering on the front and the numbers on the back often have repeating numbers. An example of this fake is below:
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