Fake Red Baron pieces

[James]

Hi all,

I am a producer working on a BBC 1 show called Fake Britain. The programme examines the stories behind fakes and forgeries. For the new series we will be taking a look at WW1 in general and the Red Baron in particular.

At present I am trying to source a recognised forgery so we can have an expert explain to us how the fake was made. The fake could be plane fabric, hair or even a portrait - we'd be interested in any Red Baron related item. If anyone on this knowledgeable forum can advise me on how I might be able to make contact with someone who owns a fake piece of Red Baron related memorabilia I would be immensely grateful.

Many thanks.

James Boakes
Producer Director
Fake Britain

jamesboakes@screenchanneltv.co.uk
0207 4903474

[Jim]

Originally Posted by James

Hi all,

I am a producer working on a BBC 1 show called Fake Britain. The programme examines the stories behind fakes and forgeries. For the new series we will be taking a look at WW1 in general and the Red Baron in particular.

At present I am trying to source a recognised forgery so we can have an expert explain to us how the fake was made. The fake could be plane fabric, hair or even a portrait - we'd be interested in any Red Baron related item. If anyone on this knowledgeable forum can advise me on how I might be able to make contact with someone who owns a fake piece of Red Baron related memorabilia I would be immensely grateful.

Many thanks.

James Boakes
Producer Director
Fake Britain

jamesboakes@screenchanneltv.co.uk
0207 4903474

I'm sure there are folks here who have been fooled into buying such things and hopefully one of them will contact you soon. I have never bought a MvR item as there is general agreement that 99% of such things are fakes. The thing is that fakes have been made going all the way back to the war and so even if it came from your great grandfather who was in the war or even if it has 95 years of real age it is still very unlikely to be real unless you have absolutely unquestionable provenance that it was really from him. Old family stories handed down with such things are pretty useless as they are always embellished and changed with every retelling. You need authentic documentation from MvR or his family or from someone who really is believable in having had the opportunity to obtain something back then, or you need some really deep scientific proof such as DNA matches to his family for his hair and I have never heard of anyone in his family submitting to such a disrespectful indignity for the enrichment of someone unknown to them. Famous aces were idolized during the war and there was a real cottage industry making fakes to meet the high demand from desperate and gullible buyers. And fakes have been manufactured ever since.