To tell or not to tell - Fakes "secrets"

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

Being stubborn as most Russians are :) I am still not convinced.

Making fakes is a huge business and they have to follow rules of the production line to turn up profit. I believe that fakers are as experienced or even more experienced than most of us here, and if they make mistakes, that we are discussing, it's because they simply can't afford to spend more time/money on making a single unit of their prodiuction. For those fakes to be profitable they have to be made in significant quantities.

Same goes for fake documents. After reading our posts here they may change the serial numbers, work on covers, etc., but they can't afford using more then 10-15 photos they already have, or hire a person with fancy hand writting to religiously make entries in those ids. If they improve something (and they certainly will even without out input) they will still be making mistakes.

Alexei

[Lapa]

Well, Russians are not the only stubborn people around, don't forget us French :D

I agree with Alexei. It seems to me that most people on this board have little knowledge of production techniques and view the issue without paying heed to practical and economic constraints and/or realities. Obviously, the faker's aim is to improve his production to a level where his fakes will be indistinguishable from an original. Once again, experience from sister branches of collecting - closest of which is coin collecting - proves that even the highest skilled fakers cannot perfectly duplicate originals. Publishing flaw characteristics enables each collector to become a more informed individual - fakers will attempt to duplicate these flaws but you must realize that it is an even more difficult task for them to get those flaws exactly right than to duplicate the rest of the medal.

I am afraid that a certain level of obscurantism, triggered I believe by either a lack of knowledge or of understanding of the production processes, sadly perpetuates fallacies and suspicions in the collector's fraternity :mad: .

Marc