Help on Rising Sun badges please.
 

I am not a collector of Australian badges but have acquired a few rising sun badges and need some help please. My step son who lives in Melbourne gave me a copy of the excellent book The Lost Diggers by Ross Coulthart and this has started me looking for rising sun badges and info.

I have a cap and 2 x collar badges (KC) all marked Stokes and Son Melbourne with lugs on them. Will this be able to date them as WW 1 or WW 2? Is there any significance in whether a rising sun badge has a voided crown or not? Next question - does a slidered badge or lugged badge help to identify if it is WW 1 or WW 2?

I also have the attached small badges and have identified the one as for the Australian Commonwealth Horse as worn in the Anglo Boer War. The other one I have no idea as to its identity. Any help will be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Dudley
(UK)

The one on the left is the 1st pattern Australian Commonwealth Horse collar badge and the one on right is the 2nd pattern Australian Commonwealth Horse collar badge.

The unit served in South Africa during the Boer War.

Mick

Hi Dudley
Lots of questions and all have been answered here on the forum. If you do a search you will find all the info asked and more. But I will give it a crack again for you.
Firstly on the surface collecting rising suns is a small but interesting hobby. In general there were only 4-6 patterns depending on who you ask. But manufacturers variations opens up a new field.
The stokes stamp generally doesn’t date the badge to WW1 or 2 and generally are hard to date however if you show some pics it may asssist with an educated guess.
A voided crown is generally a manufacturers variation but also may indicate who or where it was made. So again a pic front and back would assist.
Any rising sun with a slider indicates WW1 and that it was made in England during the war. Again there are some variations in construction.
And final question Mick has already answered.
Now I’m sure some of what I have said will be debated by some on the forum but 30+ years of collecting these I have formed my own opinions.
Hope this help
BC

Hi Dudley

Thanks BC & Mick, that saves me from going into detail, but that said what Mick and BC have said is correct. Australia has never produced badges with sliders so any Rising Sun with a slider has to be made in the UK in WW 1, some where famously made by Tiptaft and have named their slider's in 2 lines on the slider and its also on the back of the badge as part of the die and this has been covered in many threads and posts under this subject in great detail.

The 2 badges that you illustrated are almost a "Holy Grail" of RS collectors.

I suggest that you go back over previous posts to get the "gen" on these badges.

Happy New Year to all.

Phil.

Greetings Gents. Firstly a big thank you for the info supplied. I have been looking at the various posts as suggested and there is a wealth of info in there.

I have taken the liberty of attaching a scan of the reverses of the badges in question and have numbered them for reference.

Wishing all a Prosperous New Year

Dudley

hi Dudley
are there any makers names on the other badges other than the 2 Boer war era and the stokes which I think is ww2 vintage
bc

Greetings Gents. There are no names on the other badges except for the Stokes of Melbourne hat and 2 x collars. Again, thanks for the help.