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| BIOGRAPHY | PICTURES | MEDALS | SOMDETS | PHETBURI |
MEDALS FROM WAT KAO BANDAI IT
A person can hardly call himself an amulet collector without
having a clue about LP Daeng's medals, or at least about
the first batch.
As i mentioned in the LP Daend's brief biography, the first batch
was made in B.E.2503(1960) - a year after LP had received an
official statute of Buddhist teacher and Phra Kru title from The
King Rama IX. This brought some funds and rights for making his
own amulet batches. The medal very quickly became famous as a
higly protective charm. Then Phetbury was suffering from Mafia
wars and gunfights would happen often, endangering ordinary
people as well as the Police members. Thus, sadly enough, there were many
occasions to prove the protective powers of the LP Daeng's new
pendant. Also, those American soldiers who received the medals
confirmed their efficiency under the open fire of Vietnamese
battlefield.
Since 2503 LP Daeng would keep on creating medal-batches until
his death in B.E.2517(1974).
Here is some info on batches 2503, 2511 and 2512:
BATCH 2503 (the 1st medal)
There is so many fakes
of this incredible 1st batch that a chance to come across a real
piece is probably the same as the chance to find a real Somdet
Wat Rakang. Almost every single amulet shop in Thailand or a
street vendor has at least one piece of LP Daeng 2503 displayed
even though it is an obvious copy. There is simply too many
copies not to have at least one after years of collecting.
There are some guidelines to recognize the right features of
the original pieces but they are mostly useless as the new, better
looking generations of fakes hit the market. Thus apart from a pure luck, to
find an original you have to gain some knowledge from the
other collectors, which is not completely an easy thing.
First of all, please consider that the 1st batch comprises of
3 slightely different prints.
Since i have no pictures of the other two, i will just
describe them:
1. The first print: the most known one - see the pictures
below
2. The second print: monk's face feels a bit smeary and "sunken" to
the background
3. The third print: very simillar to the first one. It doesn't
have completely the same features though and thus can be very
easily treated as a fake. Monk's ears are a bit "sunken" to the
background.
What i want to say is: some
of the ridiculous looking fakes can actually be the originals of
the print 2 or 3.
Hhere are a few hints for the FIRST PRINT VARIANT i received from a Thai guy who had one
of those 2503 originals on his neck:
1. If you see a mint, black piece for less than 50.000B be
always very suspicious. The "not-that-good-looking" pieces can be
much cheaper.
2. First check the basic guidelines at Lek Watruak's site
but keep on mind that those are very basic and many new fakes follow them.
3. For the first approach memorise the monk's face and his ears (that's almost a general rule for the first approach)
4. Check the pictures 1 and 2 below
4. If you ever run across a piece that has a little round lump on the monk's robe (see the picture
3 below) forget about it - it is a well known fake!
5. that's all i know, good luck
The following 2 batches are not that hard to find but there are
still
many fakes around markets, as well as some recent re-prints that
have been made right at Wat Kao Bandai It ...
BATCH 2511, the 1st division army batch
(from my collection)
This is another famous batch, and YES there is many fakes around. First of all, please consider that the 1st batch comprises of
3 slightly different prints:
1. There are 3 stars under the wheel on the back. The star in the
centre is slightly bigger.
2. There are 3 stars under the wheel on the back. All 3 stars are
the same size.
3. There are NO stars under the wheel on the back
As you see, without knowledge about the prints you can treat
original pieces as quite funky fakes :)
Here is a few hints to help you recognize a genuine
2nd PRINT piece:
1. Look at the monk's face - it MUST be looking like he is trying to suppress a laugh. If
he look serious, avoid it.
2. The print must be nicely carved with fine details.
3. Tthere is a visible contour around the monk which makes him
look very plastic
4. See the pictures below for more details
BATCH 2512, so called medal of two relatives
(from my collection)
This is another famous batch, and
AGAIN - YES there is many fakes around. First of all, please consider that thist batch comprises of
2 slightly different prints (that differ only by the
arrangement at the very top part of the back side):
Here is a few hints to help you recognize the
genuine
1st PRINT
piece:
1. First look at the back side. There MUST BE a hair-thin
line at the top in between the very top two letters (pic. 1) . This is absolutely crucial and if you
cannot see the line on your piece then it is NOT a genuine LP
Daeng but fake or recent Wat Kao Bandai It re-print.
2. Then check the rest of the back side (pic. 2) and the front
side (pic. 3)
Personally - if the line from the pic. 1 is there, you almost
certainly hold the genuine medal and you don't have to be that
precise with the rest of the features.
As i said, Wat Kao Bandai It
recently reprinted a few LP Daeng medal batches. They look good,
but they miss the feature from the pic.1
last actualised May 13, 2007 (2550) |
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MrYeeshkul, 2006 :: eMAIL ME |
... click on the pictures to enlarge them |
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$4. There is a bit more material on the tip of the robe. The fringe of end of the lap doesn*t follow the bottom arc-line the body but finishes a bit at an angle so the tip is above the arc$5. The ring is connected to the body so that the left wedge is filled a bit more than the right one (very often).)
.)
.$2. See the monks eyes with thick eye-lids and happy expression. The gaps have different shapes. Memorise them.$3. Cheek contour is clearly visible.$4. Adam*s apple is clearly visible.$5. The muscle contour is visible (consider that my medal is not a mint looking piece).)
.)
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