royal ulster rifles airborne collar
 

hi all
i have read a lot about these badges but am still a little confused.
is this badge a good one or not?
if yes, is it a collar or as as a dealer has noted, was it worn on the beret?
btw, if good it will go into my sales album
thanks in advance
bc

I believe it is a fake. It is a copy of the 1 RUR officer's badge but they were normally made from silver.
Eddie

More information in this thread
https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ifles+airborne

Tim

The link Tim provided gives good information on the use and source of the badge. Whether they were only produced in silver or whether die stamped white metal examples were used by the regiment I cannot say. But you can see from the primary record I quoted in that link that at least two companies (one of which was Gaunt) cut dies for this badge in the 1940's but it looks as if that as of 1946 the regiment had not bought the Gaunt examples. The general consensus is that the flat backed silver ones are most likely "correct" and the die stamped WM re-strikes/reproductions.

It is not a re-purposed collar badge, as a rifle regiment no collar badges were worn except by officers in OSD and mess dress until the regiment entered the North Irish Brigade. Although this badge is the same general design as the mess dress collar badge (and also the forage cap boss badge mount) it is larger with differences in the proportion of the crown and scroll. It was thus bespoke made for use in the beret in my opinion.

John

Apologies for taking this slightly off topic, but can anybody advise me why some wartime silver badges were stamped ‘sterling silver’ such as the RUR badge, whereas some were stamped with full hall marks (maker mark, assay office, sterling lion and date stamp) like Gaunt made AAC badges for example? Was there no fixed regulations/legal requirements?
Thanks
Paul

Completely spurious, get a refund.

thanks all
looks like it will be going into the junk draw
cheers
bc

in some cases, if the purchaser required an assayed item there was the extra fee for the service ( information provided by representative of Birmingham Assay Office )

Thank you for that. Just so I understand correctly then, I assume it would have been the assay office that applied the sterling silver stamp (rather the jeweller/maker themselves), this was just a cheaper service than a full set of assay marks?

For comparison the Silver (top) can sort out better picture later with below, the supposed collar, appears to be Silver plated have seen in brass and many colours in between - this one actually looks good and bought from a dealer as a collar?

as I understood it from the assay office, a company could stamp their products with a sterling mark if it passed muster with regard to its silver content. if on the other hand they wished to go the whole nine yards the item(s) would be presented to the assay office for the bells and whistles treatment, incurring cost, which would be passed on to the customer.
an example would be a J.R.Gaunt Parachute Regiment cap badge. both examples made of 925 silver, both from the same die, both the same weight, +/- to all extents, one is stamped Sterling and the other with maker initials and the Birmingham Assay office hallmark comprising town, silver quality and year of inspection marks. hopefully I did not get hold of the wrong end of the stick !

this information may change with Brexit.

Very useful thread and information - thanks for sharing understanding of silver marks too.
Mike