Opinions Invited

[jubilationtcornpone]

Picked this up this past weekend. Opinions and comments welcome. The story: Bought by an American studying in New Zealand from a surviving daughter. He now deals in militaria. He had some other goodies but my budget was already depleted.

Don

[oc14]

Seen hundreds of fakes of these over the years, none with Gaunt plaques. Looks like the this might the first one that I would be happy to endorse as 100% genuine. Well done !
PL

[Rockape]

Hi Julian,

I have completed many hours of research into badges of the early 4th City of London Yeomanry unit known as the King's Colonials. I have a growing collection with some notable gaps. What I can tell you about these badges is that they were privately purchased with funds from the countries that sponsored these ex-pat gentlemen living in London. As a consequence, the badges were superior in quality to most unit badges and OR's wore electroplated gilt badges. Although most badges you find nowadays have only traces of gilt at the rear. I have never seen a gaunt plate behind any of the regimental or squadron badges before and seeing yours makes me suspicious. The first thing I look for is the fittings at the rear. I have found that good examples of these badges from the different squadrons use the same type of loop, and why wouldn't they seeing as they purchased from the same manufacturer?

The shank length should be short type with yellow brass solder at the base and if the base can be seen it should be minimal. I have attached some photos of good fixtures and wrong fixtures. The first three photos are from different squadron badges (A & C Sqns) and the regimental badge. The photo on the right is another squadron badge (C Sqn) with the wrong type of fitting. You will notice that the bad example has a longer shank and a much larger base.

Please do not discard a badge if it does not fit my synopsis above. No-one is ever an 'expert' in any field because there surprises around every corner that have not been encountered before. It is possible even in unlikely scenarios that an exception proves correct. Just because you have not encountered something before, it does not mean that it does not exist.

Cheers,

Garry

[badgecollector]

Hi don
At first glance it looks ok from the front but as Garry says the gaunt plate throws me.
In all my years of collecting I have never seen one with a maker’s name.
I do recall, the Australian military historical society published something on spotting the difference between good and bad in the 1970s. I will try and dig it out, but it may take awhile.
I think it would be fair to say there are probably more restrikes of these badges than original going around
BC