Another ad has come to light. It was in the Militia List of Canada, January 1925.
Note the wording. Unfortunately not conclusive again.

Nothing posted so far leads me to believe anything was manufactured in Canada. After J R Gaunt retired in 1973 the family connection was broken but J R Gaunt & Son (Birmingham Mint era) continued to supply the Canadian outlet.

Has anyone looked at the shareholding for J R Gaunt (Canada) or J R Gaunt Inc. Were they independent companies or wholly owned subsidiaries to circumvent local procurement issues.

I would point out that the London office manufactured nothing. However it ASSEMBLED items to order, from component parts supplied from Birmingham. Most of the staff were female (based on various photographs), which indicates there was no heavy machinery. It is reasonable to suppose Canada was the same, as was New York, Bombay, Christchurch and Melbourne.

It is worth noting, in view of the repeated mentions of Gaunt Canada being makers or manufacturers, that the Gaunt Royal Warrant was for ribbons. Gaunt never made ribbons. The Company supplied Toye ribbons (bought in) but had the contract for mounting medals at the Royal Household, supplying seamstresses 3 times a year to do so. A description cannot therefore be taken as factually accurate, as their Royal Warrant shows.

An illustration of the exterior of the Beaver Hall premises exists. I shall post it when I've a chance.

Warstone,

Can I ask a little more about the Gaunt office in London.

You say they assembled things. What do you mean by that, are you saying a batch of badges would arrive there and they put the rear fittings on them or they fitted the white metal scrolls to GM badges?

Also why are there "J R Gaunt London" sliders?

regards

JR Guant Montreal - 1st Hand account of visited in 1950's
 

I am new to the forum and as a retired officer with CGG, my interest lies with Canadian Grenadier Guards badges and pins. This post thread was very helpful! I appreciate the detail and research conducted by all.

And here is my fathers first hand account of JR Guant in Montreal:

My father worked in the insignia department of Henry Birks & Sons in Montreal during the late 1950's & early 1960's. As part of his regular work tasks, he was responsible for going over to the offices of JR Guant & Sons located on Beaver Hall Hill to drop off, and pick up items commissioned by Birks.

He spent quite a few visits walking around their floors and still has a firm recollection of the rooms, operations and other offices located there. He has attested that they mounted medals, had sewing rooms, and did alot of post production related to uniforms, but there was never any casting, manufacturing, or other cap badge related fabrication. To his observation, all such items were sent to England for manufacture and returned for delivery / disposition back in Canada.

Cheers! If anyone has a spare Guards Guant Montreal tabled cap badge they are willing to sell... please let me know! Cheers!

CGG 17pt plain ball Gaunt Montreal - made in England
 

Example of a CGG 87th Battalion CEF plain ball Grenade fired proper cap badge with reverse Gaunt Montreal & Made in England makers mark (table)

Looks like it may have had a slider originally.

Great observation!
Quite possible a slider removed variant badge.
I have not seen any more such examples with a double table so it is hard to tell.

Any photos of similar would be welcome!

Relative to this thread, as many are aware, Gaunt made insignia for the US military as well, particularly at the end of ww1 and through the interwar years. They were of course all imported and sold by military suppliers here. I have seen many buttons marked Gaunt New York.
Many were made during ww2 by other firms as well (Firmin) for sale to US service men stationed in the UK.

CB

Does anyone know what fittings, (slider, N/S or W/E lugs or tangs) the CEF 245th Bn badge shown has please?

I have one of these 14 flame tipped grenades in my spares box, It is slidered.

Here are the pictures.

Thanks, I have one or two grenades with that 14 flame pattern (although I can't remember what fittings they have and wondered if that flame pattern combined with any particular fitting can be narrowed down to a definite CEF 245th Bn or British Grenadier Guards usage.

I don't believe that they can be British as the number of flame tips do not correspond to any known Grenadier Guards badge design that I now of.

14 flame versions that I have, one slidered, one lugged.

I have two similar badges, one slidered the other lugged with a smaller flame pattern albeit with 16 points.
I'm wary of straying too far off thread topic (unusual for me) into general discussion of flame patterns of "Grenadier Guards type" which I think are discussed in other threads.

The 245th badges were typically lugged, with both orientations for lugs seen. The 87th Bn and 245th wore the same other ranks badges, the early issue being 14 points. These were the same badge as the Canadian Grenadier Guards of the militia wore. The slidered badges were either Brit made (often attributed to Tiptaft), or early inter-war period. The Cdn Grenadier Guards went to the 17 point grenade during the war, when they realized the imperial GG wore that pattern.

Bill

Thank you. Mine came out of a Canadian collection so that would make sense. If I wanted to sell it on the forum what would be a competitive price? It does not sit in my collecting interests so I am happy to move it on.

Alan

Yes, thanks for that info, my two badges duly relabelled.

The Grenadier Guards wore all of these variant grenades. There is plenty of photographical evidence all over the internet.
Andy

Alan, the 14 pt badge would be in the $40 to $60 range Cdn.

I've seen photos showing British GG wearing what appear to be 14, 15 or 16 point badges and had a note re. the 14 points being worn by Canadian units, now I know which units and have additional info re. fittings.

Additional notes Leigh. The Winnipeg Grenadiers had a 19 pt grenade.

Thanks - l have'nt come across a 19 pointer yet.

Ive not seen a 19 pointer either.
Andy

Winnipeg Grenadiers
 

Ah yes seen now Bill, thank you.
Andy