British Cap Badges

[michael999]

Hi...Could anyone please offer some information on a reference book on collecting military British cap badges for ww1 and ww2..Also I am looking for some E-Bay seller that sells these badges in orginal period not re-strikes. And will ship to Canada...Any information would be appreciated..

Thanks Mike

[Chacal]

Hi Mike

Although it is not my area of interest the main reference book I have covering British (and Imperial) cap badges of the First World War is:

Military Badges of the British Empire 1914-18 by Reginald H.W. Cox

Pub: 1982, London: Ernest Benn Ltd

I dare say it is a bit out-of-date and there are probably more comprehensive books now, but it suffices for my needs.

As my collecting interest is police insignia I’ll let others comment on/recommend eBay dealers in military cap badges.

Hope this helps

Graham

[2747andy]

Originally Posted by michael999

Hi...Could anyone please offer some information on a reference book on collecting military British cap badges for ww1 and ww2..Also I am looking for some E-Bay seller that sells these badges in orginal period not re-strikes. And will ship to Canada...Any information would be appreciated..

Thanks Mike

Mike,
You would not go far wrong with a copy of "Military Badge Collecting" by John Gaylor, although it was first published a long time ago and does contain errors, it is still in my opinion the best book for a starter in the hobby. The books "British Army Cap Badges" of the First and Second World War by Peter Doyle and Chris Foster are also very good and recently published however, despite being first class publications they do contain images of a lot of reproduction badges, around half of those shown in the Yeomanry section alone are of reproductions or copies and the information on WW1 economy issued badges is very inaccurate, but despite the errors they are still definitely worth considering. Kipling and King is probably a must for the serious collector, although for both volumes you are probably going to shell out around £100 or so!

My advice would be to get the above books and use them as a companion to the information offered freely on this Forum.

As for eBay sellers, I like many other members regularly sell genuine items on eBay, I also have a site which a few members also use to sell genuine items and ship Worldwide! See the Sell My Militaria link below!

One last thing, the term "Restrike" is probably one of the most confusing used in the hobby of cap badge collecting (WW1 and WW2). There is very little evidence to show that original dies were ever used to produce reproduction cap badges, on the contrary there is more evidence that the majority of fakes, copies and reproductions come from different dies produced by the fakers!

Hope this helps and happy collecting!

Andy

[Sonofacqms]

As Andy says in the previous post for a beginner John Gaylor's book which was originally written many years ago is probably the best book for someone starting out collecting british cap badges. K&K for the more serious collector and the others I cannot comment on as I do not have a copy.

Forum members who sell online do have something of a reputation to uphold and should IMO always offer a money back guarantee as should all online sellers. Unless you are sure of what you are buying always look for the returns policy on British badges.

With this in mind I can only wish you all the luck, lots of badges to collect.

Rob

[Frank Kelley]

Hello Mike,
For the Great War, I much prefer Military Badges of the British Empire by RHW Cox, the photography is rather better than K&K, but, it only covers WW1.
Regards Frank

Originally Posted by michael999

Hi...Could anyone please offer some information on a reference book on collecting military British cap badges for ww1 and ww2..Also I am looking for some E-Bay seller that sells these badges in orginal period not re-strikes. And will ship to Canada...Any information would be appreciated..

Thanks Mike

[2747andy]

I agree that Cox is a fine work, however it covers the whole Empire whereas Gaylor covers British badges only and is a lot less expensive and easier to obtain.

Andy

[GriffMJ]

I picked up a photo copied Cox for £25

[2747andy]

Originally Posted by GriffMJ

I picked up a photo copied Cox for £25

you can get an original copy of Gaylor for around a tenner (£10). Besides there are issues with photocopying publications!!!



Andy

[Peter Brydon]

Mike ,
You could do a lot worse than keeping an eye open for badges for sale here on the Forum ( in my opinion )

You could of course also post lists of your wanted items in the Classified section

P.B.

[ubervamp]

Hi

"Military Badge Collecting" by John Gaylor and "British Army Cap Badges" of the First World War by Peter Doyle are great for WW1 badges, I've found. Just beware, as other have mentioned, some errors are to found in both publications. There is also a wealth of information to be found here on the forum!

As for obtaining original period badges, I would recommend sticking to buying from forum members until you get a hang of what to look out for regarding fakes/restrikes. A good place to start is sellmymilitaria.com, run by Andy, also a forum member. You can also post a wanted items list there.

Good luck!

Colin

[michael999]

Thank-You to all for the information...I will look for the Book
Military Badge Collecting..By John Gaylor..

I will search E-Bay sites to find the book...I am new to the form and still learning how to search the site for information...

Thanks Again...Mike

[michael999]

Thanks too all for the information...It is much appreciated..I have been collecting Canadian Cap Badges for several years and have decided to star collecting British Cap badges..So i am new to the british ones...

Also I new to the form and learning on how to use it...

Will look for this book by John Gaylor....

Thanks Again...