WW1 Australian Flying Corps Shoulder Title - Information Needed
 

Hey everyone.
Recently I purchased an Australian Flying Corps shoulder title from a trustworthy collector, along with a numerous amount of other WW1 and WW2 items.

I was wondering if anybody could tell me any information about this shoulder title, such as when they first originated and were handed out, also possibly whether it is original or not.

What would be the rarity for such an uncommon shoulder title, and how much do these shoulder titles go for on the market, as I could not find a single one online except for in the Australian War Memorial.

Attached below are some photos of the shoulder title, it looks to be in quite nice condition however it is missing one lug on the back of the badge. Would anyone recommend getting another lug and attaching it? or should it just be left as it is.

Any comments, feedback or information will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Jacob

The title looks OK to me. I would have no hesitation in replacing the lug.
The badge in the scan appears to be a slightly different die. You have to beware of the cloth titles which have been extensively copied.
I would assume these were worn with the curved Australia title in 1916, after which (like many other Australian metal titles) they were replaced by colour patches.
They are indeed quite rare, although mine cost me something like $10 about 15 years ago, one of my earliest Ebay purchases. You could expect to pay a lot more now.

I'd leave the title alone and not replace the lug, but each to his own.

Looks fine and I would leave it with 1 lug and I have seen them sell for $200 to $500 depending which dealer you look at in Oz. I am lead to believe round lugs Oz made and triangle lug British made .

The item is clearly a genuine period made specimen and the presence of age damage (including the missing lug) does the item no harm at all.. except if you intend to sell it to some boof-head who suggests the item should be discounted because of that.

We all know the rules, never ever deal with boof-heads anyway:)

Nice find, enjoy that piece of history and every single age mark on it... they are ALL part of the item's history.

Regards and thanks for sharing!

Mark

hi Jacob
agree with all, genuine, leave it as is and $200 to $500 but those lugs were never used on british badges and i always think they are typical australian.
bc

Thanks for the great reply Mark!

Thanks for the images and info Jack. Do you happen to know if these shoulder titles are more sough after in other countries such as the U.K. or the U.S? Thanks.

id say in general more sought after in australia, however if a collector outside australia really wants it, then maybe?