"French" Commando

[Belly]

Great observations Pierre
it's a shame there are bidders out there who don't do any research and therefore, have literally more money than sense. As long as there are plenty of these, unfortunately there will also be plenty of people to exploit them
Paul

[elwe23]

Well guys, a bit late for the discussion. Thanks all for the photo and details.
A good exemple of a fake one in HD quality

[badgecollector]

Originally Posted by Mike B

If it helps - I have a version of the commemorative with star amongst my examples. As Pierre mantions - I have not seen many of these, based on the original/rejected design. Thanks to Paul (Belly) for photography.
Mike

wow
i have never seen an original badge and this is brilliant
thanks
bc

[tcrown]

See the comparison between:

- The 'Made in England' badge, the closest copy of the 1e BFM Cdo badge probably struck from the original die made by Gaunt.
- The commemorative badge made by Arthus Bertrand in 1974 from the original design created by Maurice Chauvet (note the star which was refused by the Free French Navy top brass as too much inspired by the USSR or US )
- An original modern Commando Marine badge made by Drago in the 90s

Of note is the difference in sizing of the first one versus the last two: after the war the French Navy adopted a new badge in 1949 which was inspired by the 1e BFM Cdo example from L/Cpl Le Rigoleur (badge #130). Initially, the original badge was considered too small and not recognizable. This is the reason why the new badge is 5 mil bigger.

Also, note the difference of colour between the French green berets and the original british berets worn by the French commandos during WW2.

[elwe23]

Originally Posted by tcrown

See the comparison between:

- The 'Made in England' badge, the closest copy of the 1e BFM Cdo badge probably struck from the original die made by Gaunt.
- The commemorative badge made by Arthus Bertrand in 1974 from the original design created by Maurice Chauvet (note the star which was refused by the Free French Navy top brass as too much inspired by the USSR or US )
- An original modern Commando Marine badge made by Drago in the 90s

Of note is the difference in sizing of the first one versus the last two: after the war the French Navy adopted a new badge in 1949 which was inspired by the 1e BFM Cdo example from L/Cpl Le Rigoleur (badge #130). Initially, the original badge was considered too small and not recognizable. This is the reason why the new badge is 5 mil bigger.

Also, note the difference of colour between the French green berets and the original british berets worn by the French commandos during WW2.

Thanks Tcrown for the comparison photo and the great description. I have a Drago one, they didn't do a bad job in comparison of some copies.
So from 1949-1953 it's Arthus Bertrand who produced the badges.
Considering the Longest Day was released in 1962 and the photo of Christian Marquand it could have been an Arthus Bertrand one from this period and not the "Gaunt Chauvet 1943" one.

Also for the beret I guess the modern french one is the one at the bottom brighter green and the english one darker green.

Look they are selling 3 different versions of copies of originals, I wonder who made those:
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/265769100814...Bk9SR_6KtaT3YA
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/265252539405...Bk9SR_6KtaT3YA
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/265026621053...Bk9SR_6KtaT3YA

[tcrown]

Originally Posted by elwe23

Thanks Tcrown for the comparison photo and the great description. I have a Drago one, they didn't do a bad job in comparison of some copies.

I don't understand what you mean: Drago is one of the makers of original 'Commandos Marine' badges.

Originally Posted by elwe23

So who produced the French Navy one in 1949 and the years after ? Drago ?

The first 'Commandos Marine' badges were produced exclusively by Arthus Bertrand up to mid 50s. At that stage, other batches were ordered to Drago Paris followed by others from makers like Balme (Saumur) and recently from Bousseucart (2012), Beraudy et Vaure (Ambert), LR (Paris) and others.

Originally Posted by elwe23

Considering the Longest Day was released in 1962 and the photo of Christian Marquand it could have been a french navy one from this period and not the "Gaunt Chauvet 1943" one.

This was the case indeed: The French Army provided most of the extras for the combat scenes and leveraged the film producer to accept that famous scene of the casino attack which is totally ficticious. The extras in that scene were real commandos from the 'Hubert' unit. So it is likely that Christian Marquant wore in that scene a 'Commando Marine' beret provided by the French Navy.

Originally Posted by elwe23

Also for the beret I guess the modern french one is the one at the bottom brighter green and the english one darker green.

You are correct. The one at the top is a 1945 british beret made by Surpak.