Herman, I will express my opinion on the openness of information. I can definitely say that the less information is available, the easier it is for fraudsters to deceive collectors. All the talk that if the information is open, then fraudsters will improve it does not make economic sense. In order to make a dagger correctly, a swindler must know blacksmithing, be able to poison with acid, work with wood or plastic, and also put enamels. Moreover, it is not easy to do this because they have to try to repeat the technologies of those years. After all, if you do not see the blacksmith's stamp on the blade, or the etching will be performed with a "dirty" solution, you will immediately notice it. Of course this makes sense either on very expensive items or in the production of a large series of items. But even then, in my opinion, it is impossible to completely repeat all these nuances. As an example, even high-quality Chinese fakes of branded items have technological differences (seams, threads, materials ...). So this is all the production of the same period, the same technologies and available materials. Not knowing these nuances for customer both Birkin's bag, and its fake will be the same. And the bag is much easier to counterfeit, the technology is simpler. And the bags have much more consumers than all the collectors of Militaria. You remember my threads from 12 years ago about forgeries which you call Eastern Block fakes. So, if I had not looked for information, did not compare different objects with each other and received and did not share information, then I probably would still have these items in my collection and not only me.
In order to make, for example Small A. A fraudster must make a blade with blacksmith's signs for this model, find a handle assembled with a certain GAU, otherwise it will be seen that the tree does not fit the guards. But that's not all, accessories - buttons and an eagle must be of a certain type. And even if all this is somehow found, then there are still the nuances of etching. And in the manufacture of the Christmas dagger, it is even more difficult, since almost all the parts are non-standard. Many of you, just by the appearance of the scabbard, guard or buttons, can tell who the manufacturer is or is the dagger Roem or Himmler.
Therefore, the more you keep secrets and make an elite club, the more there will be fakes and deceived collectors. This is my opinion and maybe not necessarily correct.
