Canadian wings on a dark blue background
 

Dear all,
I know of Canadian wings on a green background for the CF Green uniform and on a black background for DEU. I'm in the process of reframing my Canadian collection and when taking a closer look, I discovered three of my mess dress wings have a dark blue background instead of black. It doesn't look to me the colour faded by using them. Is there a particular reason for this?
I took a picture of them three (on the left) with a black one beside them to show the difference - I hope it is clear enough to see it.
Cheers,
Alain

Hello Alain,
I checked a couple of references and there is no indication of differing backing colours. The dress wings were private purchase, and that may explain the difference.

That absolutely makes sense, hadn't thought in that direction. Thank you !!!!

An answer from en expert
 

Wanted to share with you the answer I got from George Quigley :

"In reference to your Mess Dress wings on blue - beginning in 1968/1969 all Mess Dress wings (gold wire and later mylar) were officially to be embroidered on dark blue melton. This was to match the new tri-service Mess Dress that was blue. Most Mess Dress wings are found on black even though the official colour was to be blue as many are private purchase. In 1985 mess dress wings were introduced in J-Metallic on black and red to replace the gold wire and coarse mylar wings although that has never been fully accepted. Still lots of private purchase and unit ordered varieties out there."

Thank you George !