OAImages Blog

Hank Birdsong and Garrick Smith have been keeping me up to date on the situation regarding the fakes of Tsali’s 2002 NOAC flaps.   Both have forwarded to me an image of the S42 with its fake, which was acquired from an eBay seller in British Columbia, for comparison purposes.   Click on the image to see a much larger version of the picture.

The fake is the bottom patch in the image.   As they note it is a very good fake.   It would easily fool anyone not very familiar with the patch or aware that a fake exists.   Very few of these were made, so most collectors would never have seen the real thing except for in a picture .

As I had reported previously there are some differences to watch out for with this item.  I had described differences in the shades of the red, yellows and oranges used.   That’s hard to describe and visualize.  The images here also show another difference that might be easier for folks to notice.   The black border on the fake is significantly thicker and looser than on the real.   This fake pictured also has a pointed bottom with the border overlap at the point, although I do not know if that will be consistent with all the fakes.

As with many things in life, skepticism is wise.   This patch and its companion were made in very low quantities and is one of the tougher modern issues from the lodge.   Be very wary of anyone who appears to have a quantity of them, or is selling them for a “great price”, or is known to be a seller of other dubious items.   In this case, the seller is well known for selling fakes of modern issues and the authenticity, or at least the origin, of his items should be questioned.