Quote:
Originally Posted by davidwyke
Just to follow on from the above. The backmarks you have listed highlight an important point relating to backmarks in general.
The first one is without "Ltd". Gaunts became a limited company in 1899 (at least I think it was 1899, I'm not at home and can't check - Roger will shout at me if it's the wrong date!  ) It's easy to assume that because there is no "Ltd" then the button must pre-date 1899. Not so, they continued to use that backmark for many years, alongside those which included "Ltd".
The point I'm trying to make is that while backmarks can be very useful in dating buttons, it's best not to place too much emphasis on the exact wording.
David
Having said the above, it's certainly true that Gaunts didn't use "Gaunt / London" on large size buttons until long after WW1. There is much debate as to when it was first used, some would say as early as mid 1940's, others no earlier than c.1950. It certainly wasn't used on any genuine large size buttons of the disbanded (1922) Irish Regiments. |
"The first one is without "Ltd". Gaunts became a limited company in 1899 (at least I think it was 1899, I'm not at home and can't check" - Spot on, David!
I am not sure if this is the place to start a debate on the 'Gaunt London' backmark but I would love to hear other views on when they started using this backmark - and this applies, of course, to large size buttons only.
There are many King's crown buttons with the 'Gaunt London' backmark and because many of them are known to be 1970s reproductions (the 'Gaunt London' 24th Lancers and 27th Lancers are obvious examples of non-genuine ones) it is often assumed that all King's crown buttons with 'Gaunt London' are 1970s reproductions. However, nobody seems to know exactly what Gaunt did reproduce in 1970. I have often heard it said that it was the war-time raised cavalry units (two of them mentioned above), the Irish Regiments disbanded in 1922 and those of the cavalry regiments amalgamated in the 1920s and other 'sought after' buttons - the latter without any further explanation. I have seen many Yeomanry buttons with a King's crown and 'Gaunt London' that I would almost certainly guarantee to be 1970s manufacture.
However, I have some King's crown Royal Air Force buttons marked 'Gaunt London' and I find it hard to believe that Gaunt would go to the trouble of reproducing such a common and hardly 'sought after' RAF button in the 1970s! This would seem to suggest that they were using the 'Gaunt London' backmark before 1952 or thereabouts.
Does anyone have a definitive list of what Gaunt did produce in the 1970s or any other thoughts on the matter?
Roger