Harley Davidson Head Badge Controversy

[fordsnake]

Welcome back Carlton! You back for good or just a stop over? V/r Shawn

Thanks Shawn. I'm home for a few months.

 

[hoofhearted]

Am somewhat reluctant to display this next badge in a CABE thread ...

This badge is the daddy of all reproduced, acid etched H-D badges
made by Nostalgic Reflections of Veradale, WA.

It has taken me a week to learn how to drift fotos from my Motorola G3
to my wife's laptop. Am going to post closeups now, and then step off.

Tomorrow I will do more 'splainin' ... as for tonight ... I am done - waaay tired.

Have been in communication with Todd a.k.a. (47jchiggins).
Will be commenting on his so-called controversial H-D badge.

PLEASE BE PATIENT AND SAVE YOUR COMMENTS "TIL AFTER I GET
THIS ENTRY EDITED AND FULLY WRITTEN TOMORROW >>>>> THANK YOU

....... patric







HERE WE GO ...................

Number 1 ^^^

Number 2 ^^^

Number 3 ^^^

Number 4 ^^^

Number 5 ^^^

Number 6 ^^^

Number 7 ^^^

Number 8 ^^^

Number 9 ^^^

Number 10 ^^^

Number 11 ^^^

Number 12 ^^^

Number 13 ^^^

Number 14 ^^^

Number 15 ^^^

Number 16 ^^^

Number 17 ^^^

Todd (47jchiggins) ... thank you for mailing your badge to me.
There are things that come to light when a badge is in the hand ...
and not be limited to observation thru a foto.

Number 18 ^^^

Number 19 ^^^

This foto is the same as Number 1 at the top.

I am gonna refer to this particular badge as the Nostalgic-Reflections Mystery H-D Badge.

....... For reasons you will put together in Entry #46 of this thread.

 

[hoofhearted]

After having seen AND handled Todd's unusual, rogue H-D badge ...
I have reached a conclusion that works for me. It is a stamped badge
... not acid-etched ... and is authentic.

The badge shows no evidence of etching-exhaust bubbles around
magnified edges within the design. The back of the badge shows
pressure-formed, reverse letters ... subtle, but they are there,

Sadly, the badge APPEARS to have been futzed-with at some time
in it's past. There are a bunch of marks of a certain-style in a limited
debris-field ... and these marks appear to be limited to just one debris-
field (maybe a little salting elsewhere, but still quite-limited). Then the
''tool'' that made the marks is changed-out for a different ''tool'' ... and
whatever was ''salted'' by the first-tool ... gets salted in adjacent areas
by tool Number Two ... and so on.

Whoever did the salting may have been desperate to have the badge
perceived as authentic ... (I believe this badge is authentic) ... and
decided to age-flavor the thing.

A poor stratedgey, even if I can't spell the word.

The reader can feel free to believe whatever she/he wants to believe ...
and I am nothing more than an old pirate with a critical eye AND an opinion,
just like you.

Please note that this typer has no plans to argue opinions back and forth
with the reader.

Did I mention the badge is ''gassing'' ? It gives-off a distinctly-metallic odor,
often natural to metal that oxidizes over time.

 

[Freqman1]

Patric,
Possessing not even a nano-gram of your knowledge on these badges I was unable to reach a conclusion either way after examining this badge. The thing that had me leaning towards not authentic was the hole spacing. Other than that there was nothing either way that led me to believe this badge is not authentic. Regarding the random marks I suggested to Todd that this badge may have been in a tool box or something similar for years and the marks were accumulated over time as tools were thrown in the box. Those are my thoughts for what they are worth. V/r Shawn

 

[Balloontyre]

What size is this badge in comparison to those that have been found on bicycles?

 

[hoofhearted]

Moving forward ... Where Did the Nostalgic Reflections H-D Badge Originate ?

Maybe 1995, Jerry at N-R fones me with a lead on what he says is an
OG H-D badge.

Keep in mind ... in 1995 VERY FEW COLLECTORS had ever laid eyes
on a H-D badge. Paranoid times they were. The owner of an authentic
H-D badge would never share images of it with fellow collectors ...
unless, of course, money was to be made by at least one of them.
And besides ... What Did One Even Look Like ?

Why ... look at us here ... right now ... just a-sharin' and feelin' all
friendly ... kinda like we were all gonna walk to the drugstore in
Mayberry ... buy ourselves an ice-cream cone .. then go to sit on
Andy's porch and share bicycle stories.

Times are different. And I do like this current-period waaay better
than I enjoyed those mid-90's.

Back to Jerry at N-R ... Jerry has a gentleman that wants to gather
and restore as many original H-D bicycles as humanly possibly.
The gentleman was a retired exec at H-D ... and his plans are to help
grow their museum and history center.

After I was offered the Nostalgic-Reflections Mystery H-D Badge ... I was
asked if I would mind if N-R reproduced a few of them for use by the H-D
gentleman. Said I wanted the one Jerry located. And I received it. Repop
'til your heart's content.

H-D gentleman hires me to ''antique'' the dozen N-R badges he received.
Said I didn't want money ... looking for H-D Bicycle historical knowledge.
Got it .. along with some fotos printed using factory-original glass negs.

I was happy.

Let's peep some stuff, not necessarily from the H-D Factory but some of
stuff N-R produced, also.

Please compare font subtleties in the N-R Badge and the factory literature.

Let's continue our peepin' .......

Now somehow, three badges came outta the acid-bath with a very-unique etch ...

Only 3 ... and I got a chance to own them.



Jerry could not, or ever, replicate these particular badges. One was sold to a collector,
like ourselves. His badge ended-up at H-D.

I held on to my textured rarities. Now keep in mind ... it's the mid-90's ... and I had NEVER
seen any other type of H-D badge. Had no idea that a stamped-copper badge was also out
there.

In the meantime ... I gets a call from the owner of Mid-Ohio Harley-Davidson in Springfield, OH ...

He wants to own the 1917 Motorcyke I'm building. I know it is an original as I bought the
frame / fork from Shoe3 ... my budz - Phil Scott.

It had red powdercoat on it -- but very straight ...

It also had badge, screw-holes that matched the Nostalgic-Reflections Mystery H-D Badge ...
later on found out the stamped-copper badge would not work .. the Mystery-Badge has holes
a wee-bit wider-spaced than the stamped-copper specimens.

Brian .. at Mid-Ohio told me he wanted the ''texture-badge'' ... not the smooth, Mystery-Badge.
I know I posted a nice foto of this 1917 Motocyke ... just cannot find it within the CABE ...
and I do not have access to any other computer except for this one that my wife gave me
permission to use .......

MORE STUFF ............

Noted some flaws in the mystery-badge ...
talked with Jerry ... he decided to remove them from the
art-work that he used to make his repro's.

Nothin' left to say ..................................

 

[hoofhearted]

Just when I believed the earliest Davis DAYTONs ...
(Davis produced bicycles as early as 1892 -- and
the DAYTON beginning in 1895) were equipped
with a name badge incorporating a large ''D'' as
a major part of the design .....

 

[frankster41]

The real deal

 

[fordsnake]

From what Patric has suggested and what has been viewed here as original badges; the letters of Harley Davidson were blind embosssed - referring to a method of pressing or stamping an image into metal, creating a three dimensional relief of the letters.

Debossing or etching is a simpler technique, a method of depressing or etching the surface. Note; the letters are not raised or relief from the background.

These three badges were produced from the same DNA...a dembossed technique.

.

 

[hoofhearted]

My Dear Carlton ... I know that I'm not the only
CABEr that has missed your presence within
many, many threads on the forum. Hope you
will be with us for a long time ... at least thru
the Winter.

You Are Appreciated ......

....... patric