Harley Davidson Head Badge Controversy

[Balloontyre]

It's a Fake, no other way about it.

All fonts are diff from real to the repop, I see it clearly. If you have a real one on hand you will notice another difference that images dont show.
-The weight- real are super light, I'm sure yours is heavy



I , as much as the next guy am always looking and hoping for a new discovery, in this case it's just not so.

As an aside...your letter from H-D is Not an authentication of your badge as a real authentic, its your interpretation of the letter.


Read post by Bike again, exactly spot on.

 

[47jchiggins]

Last pic was mine and ended up being a fake. The letters from the og looks different. The fake ones are a bit more squared

This is exactly what I'm talking about. When I was at the Davenport MC swap, I saw an HD badge that looked like the stamped badge, even had an impression on the reverse. When I picked it up, I immediately noticed the weight and thickness, someone made an absolutely beautiful CASTING of the stamped badge, if only it was a bit lighter and thinner, it could have passed.....that's what I'm talking about. Why make a fake that looks like a fake?

The badge below is made to look like the STAMPED badge but it is cast, not stamped.......my badge is STAMPED or pressed from a piece of what was once flat stock, not cast......

 

[Balloontyre]

Please call,

 

[cyclingday]

Here's one that's a little bit different.
It's the bottle cap fastened type.

 

[redline1968]

Both badges look like they were hand made and not by machine. The edges around the lettering are not smooth more like jagged.. that to me indicates copies. The brass badge holes appear to be slightly wider then the other badge next to it. I feel some one was a engraver and made the brass badge (gave it some patina) for a bike that had slightly wider spaced holes.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

I think the suspect badge is photoetched, run through a vibratory tumbler and run over on the garage floor.. What do these things sell for? I could go into production.

 

[bricycle]

Oh, I see it now... the "a" of Harley Davidson should be flatter on top and not more curved.

 

[bikewhorder]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. When I was at the Davenport MC swap, I saw an HD badge that looked like the stamped badge, even had an impression on the reverse. When I picked it up, I immediately noticed the weight and thickness, someone made an absolutely beautiful CASTING of the stamped badge, if only it was a bit lighter and thinner, it could have passed.....that's what I'm talking about. Why make a fake that looks like a fake?

The badge below is made to look like the STAMPED badge but it is cast, not stamped.......my badge is STAMPED or pressed from a piece of what was once flat stock, not cast......

View attachment 690980

View attachment 690981

Making an exact replica of anything is difficult. 99% of repop parts have glaring differences from the originals. It does seem like if you were going to go through the effort of making reproduction parts you might as well get it right but without the same tooling it can be almost impossible.

 

[rustjunkie]

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but this badge is photoengraved/etched.

 

[ejlwheels]

Yes, the Pontiac badge is acid etched.
At some point after its removal it was run over in the driveway


47jchiggins,
your badge was acid etched
then hammered repeatedly to make the scuff marks or nicks
and then varnished or baked with grease on
the edges of the letters and outlines (or cliffs) are not worn or burnished at all
which they would be if the badge were old enough to have all those bang marks
The Milwaukee font should have little tiny serifs or spurs
Like Copperplate Gothic created around 1901
Look closely at the bottom of the A