Dates on Tank arm badges please
 

Hello all again
Could someone please give me some rough dates on the attached Tank arm badges please.I think the two metal ones are copies, can I have confirmation please.
Your time and help, as always, are greatly appreciated

The one with the hollow gun is WWI, the one with it looks a bit iffy to me. It could be an officers self purchace version though???

The two metal badges look ok from here. They where normally worn in hot climates, so they could be taken off to wash the uniform. I believe they are both from between the wars, the longer one being slightly older.

The other cloth badge would be WWII till the 60s.

A good rule of thumb is if the gun is horizontal it’s WWI and raised is pre WW2 onwards. But that doesn’t stand for bullion wired badges.

Hope this helps!

Mark.

Thank you Mark for your response and help.
Yes, the 1st one I found amongst a lot of various cloth badges titles etc from a curious shop about 20 years ago, not for very much. Ive always been a little dubious about it.
And quite good news about the metal badges being possibly OK :-)
Do any photos exist of the metal badges being worn?
Thank you again, appreciated

A couple of close ups of badge 1, any thoughts on its originality please?

Attached pics

Does anyone know?

My gut feeling is it is a fake, but I might be wrong. It might be an officers self purchase.

Hi, your first tank badge is ww1, I have one with the same characteristics and is definitely ww1. The second (lower) is probably ME or S African, I have several hollow gun examples but that style resembles one in a post on the SRRU. Your bullion one is probably post ww2 made in Bielefeld as I don't think it was occupied after ww1. The metal badges I personally don't like. The shorter one appeared in w/m and brass, and I have seen them with a Firmin stamp. the original ones look brass finished but if you check the back they usually have traces of silver plate. The larger badge turned up in the 70's in every guise possible, but it may be from an original die, no one seems to know. It could be an earlier badge but I've not heard of any definitive explanation. Hope this helps and if anyone has info on the large badge I would love to hear it, best wishes Mike

Mike,
Firstly I'd like to apologies for my late reply, been very busy lately, secondly, I'd like to thank you for your reply, and its good to know the first one is WW1, I too thought it a dodgy one, as its in good condition. And the hollow gun one SA eh! Interesting. I've never really been happy with the metal badges, never seen a photo of them being worn.


Thank you again
C