Fakes, reproductions, replicas, an investigative report, by Harry Ridgeway

Fakes, reproductions, replicas,

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FP1490     CSA rectangle belt plate, "Virginia" style 

Plate measures 47mm X 68mm

Editor note:  This plate made a brief appearance on my webpage, I was initially fooled by it, but did discover it to be a fake before it was sold, so it was returned to its source and I did not sell it.  One of the ironies is that while it was on my webpage, one guy who thought he had owned it previously, called me to straighten me out on the provenance of the plate, he claimed it came from a famous site and was dug by one of the well known early diggers, he was trying to help me.  This points out the hideous nature of these things, there are a bunch of these plates floating around, and they all look almost alike, so once accepted they tend to proliferate.  The fellow that called me was not in the ownership chain for this particular plate (lucky him) but he no doubt did own one of these and that chicken may come home yet to roost.  It is not the dash over the dot that is distinct for this plate, when this plate was copied the hooks were in the way, so the back had to be completely reworked.  You can see where this plate has been rubbed extensively to rework the back.  I have received confirmation from Gary Williams that he made this plate, Gary posted an extensive dissertation on the Northern Virginia Relic Hunters fakes forum explaining how he had made this reproduction plate that relicman was trying to sell!  I do not find any Hanover Brass marks on this plate, do you see any?