Federation Insignia badge help

[craig51]

Hello all,

Therin of Andor sent me here as some of you guys may know.

I have been offered an insignia badge for sale, but need to know if it is genuine.

First off, did they ever make these for the movies as a one piece cast metal badge?

So far, I have been told they are all two piece, with the chevron attached to the back plate by 3 wires.

Can someone id this badge for me?

Cheers

 

[Sector 7]

A picture or photo of the item in question may help in your quest.

 

[Broccoli]

How much are you paying for it, if you don't mind me asking. If it isn't a lot, then I'd say go for it. If it turns out to be not genuine, at least you didn't pay much for it.

If anything, it looks like the one in the movies.

 

[A beaker full of death]

A picture or photo of the item in question may help in your quest.

He don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!

 

[Kirk1980]

Yeah, it looks pretty good, honestly.

Anything more than 15 or so for it would likely be a ripoff unless you know for a dead certainty it's an original.

 

[Captain Robert April]

It looks pretty authentic. Never heard about the two-piece story; I always assumed they were one piece, like the one I got just like it at a local comics shop several years ago for around fifteen bucks.

Accounting for inflation, I wouldn't pay more than twenty, unless there's some proof it came off the set.

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ There was one scene in, I think it was Star Trek VI, which showed McCoy's front arrowhead of his badge off center and tilted in relation to the back piece. It was very brief (dying Gorkon or Rura Penthe scene, maybe?) but it was there and I was shocked to see, after all this time, that it was a two-piece. Only time I've ever seen that in one of the movies. It was probably considered a time saver and easier to manage for costuming, as they would have used the same arrowhead insignia, sans back plate, for all enlisted personnel. I suppose I'll give TrekCore a look unless someone else has seen it too and has a cap.

Update: Here's a pic where the arrowhead is off-center. Probably pushed over from one of McCoy's medical bags he carried on to Kronos 1.

In this pic you can see that it's still a little "off" compared to Kirk's at the trial.

 

[SonicRanger]

I have an original enlisted-crew-style insignia from an auction, but it is currently at my parents' house in another state, so I can't compare it easily for you. It does, though, look rather similar, better than the various commercial versions over the years.

The enamel part looks somewhat "sloppy" to me, but I'm sure that there were "background" and "hero" versions of these, so perhaps that isn't an issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if these were actually two pieces at all -- they'd be easier to make that way, and as someone else pointed out, they had to have the enlisted-style badges too.

That said: buyer beware.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Without some documented provenance, I wouldn't pay more than twenty bucks. It's a nice piece, make a nice addition to any costume, but like I said, I bought one just like it from a comics shop for around fifteen.

 

[Therin of Andor]

^^^ There was one scene in, I think it was Star Trek VI, which showed McCoy's front arrowhead of his badge off center and tilted in relation to the back piece.

In "Generations", the back section of Kirk's insignia badge is upside down when Picard is placing it on the pile of rocks. The round dot is in the wrong corner.

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ Never noticed that! Very cool - definitely a 2-piece, then.

Update: Sure 'nuff! http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/generations/ch15/gen1073.jpg

 

[cooleddie74]

Upon first inspection it looks like the real deal. But then there've been so many manufacturers of fan replicas for conventions, online and catalog sales and the like that I suppose it could come from ANYWHERE and never got near a movie set or studio warehouse.

 

[Therin of Andor]

^^^ Never noticed that! Very cool - definitely a 2-piece, then.http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/generations/ch15/gen1073.jpg

However, I'm sure I read that the first batch of badges (used in ST II and III) were one-piece items, and it was only when Paramount needed more for the later films that the props company started doing two-piece items.

That was what concerned me about the OP. That if it had really been used in ST II or III, as he'd been told(?), then it should have been a one-piece.

The commercial ones a mail order company put out, as a ST II tie-in collectible (along with Khan's pendant), were beautiful - I still have two - but they were not enamelled with the white and silver sections. However, once I'd painted mine it was probably indistinguishable from the real thing.

Years later, Lincoln Enterprises had one-piece replicas in their catalogue, but the "white" enamel was so cream it was almost yellow - and just looked wrong.

And yet, some proven screen-used badges seem to have yellowing enamel.

So who knows! Let the buyer beware.

 

[Balok's Head]

Any pics Therin?

 

[Captain Robert April]

After looking at some more screencaps, that backing is upside down on Kirk's insignia throughout the entire movie.

Maybe that's how retired officers are identified....?