Authentic vs Replica ST:TNG Communicator Badge

[JCaruso]

Hello again,
For the purposes of differentiating authentic vs replica items, how would we evaluate this communicator badge?

QUESTIONS:
(1) Is this a replica, or an authentic prop made by Paramount and used during the filming of STNG?
(2) What features allow you to determine if it is a replica or authentic piece?
(3) Who may have built this?
(4) What is the approximate age of the item?
(5) What is the approximate value?

Approximate dimensions of the oval
Length: 4.4 cm
Width: 3 cm

Weight: 0.2 oz
The last image is an X-ray.

Thanks!

 

[Voyager398]

One of these sold at the 2006 Christies auction for $3,120. It was also part of the auction for Paramount so it had all of the authentication to go with it. It looks about right. The milling in the back looks a bit sloppier than the ones at auction. See the auction photos below. The 1st photos are a season 7 badge (I think), the second set are Wesley Crusher's screen used communicators from the auction.

Also reference this thread as one of the other members on here has an original: My Original TNG Comm Badge

Your overall dimensions seem too small. The screen used comms were about 45mm wide and 50mm tall. However I wonder if they made a set of smaller badges for the S6E7 episode Rascals to keep them more to scale with the kids used in the episode.

On the other hand so many people of made their own sculpts and resin casts and sold them for so many years now.

 

[JCaruso]

Appreciate your input, thanks!
Here are some photos showing the dimensions, starting with the oval part

 

[Lost in Trek]

You have posted a few thread regarding props from TNG. Might be helpful to know where you found these pieces. What is the provenance?

 

[JCaruso]

Hi,
Great point, of course.
For the moment, I was looking for an academic assessment of the pieces based only on the physical characteristics noted and the information depicted in the photos.
Thanks!

 

[scififan2001]

Hi,

I happen to have an original first or second season TNG Communicator (and costume).
Here are some photos

 

[Vaderman]

I have a couple of them (regular and one of the two Wesley Crusher early versions) I saw the other thread about these, but stopped reading after the part about “everyone on the crew being given one in the first or second season…” this is not true and at that time, they even started having background actors leave their drivers license with wardrobe until they returned it at the end of their work.
These would fall off or get brushed off and go flying - they would almost always lose a ‘leg’ or two.
They were also too easy to steal (small, some fell, survived and were not recovered, etc.) And they were iconic, so made a great souvenir.
As time went by, those out in the wild were molded and copied and so they got slightly smaller and the paint job was tough enough to thwart some trying to perfectly replicate them.
They would still be nearly impossible to tell from the originals, save the ground out backs with the Velcro. They often looked like they were very roughly ground out; They were never going to be seen so it didn’t matter.
For us, as fans, we’d naturally make the opening in the back much neater. Also, some of those pictures above look to have the Velcro stuck on level with the back. The reason for the ground out portion was to countersink the Velcro enough so that both halves could be covered and they could look attached with some high tech magic.
Geez, I wasn’t sure I was even going to post a reply, never meant to right a paragraph. D’oh!

 

[Vaderman]

OK, looking at the communicator it looks like a recast. It might be out of the original molds, but I think it would have been a reject. The pitting on the front of the Delta shape wouldn’t have been acceptable. Also, the Velcro on the part of the uniform we can see should never show you shouldn’t be able to see any Velcro sticking out behind the communicator. The square is just too big.
The gold oval shape also looks a little rough. I can’t tell if it’s the way the paint was applied or if it’s in the cast, but these things were very smooth and pretty, mostly because they didn’t generally keep them with a particular uniform. So someone in the background would still get a good communicator compared to a cast member, though they would obviously put the best ones on the cast members or for a close-up shot.
That one, to my eye, just looks a little bit too rough. It looks original, but like I said, possibly one that production would have rejected or kept maybe for an emergency or deep background.