What a/a badges are worth buying ??
 

I wonder if anyone else is like me and knows that whilst some anodised badges can be worth a lot of money, and others only have only a fairly nominal value ,we dont know which a/a badges are worth looking out for.

I wonder if anyone is willing and able to provide a list of the more valuable anodised badges that,if you came across an example on your travels, would be well worth buying ( providing the price was right ).

P.B.

Peter,

as a rough guide I'd look out for those Infantry Regts that did not emerge from the Brigade system and almost any with a King's Crown..

the following are IMO the most scarce (and costly to get hold of!):

RUR (KC)
RSF (KC & QC)
RB (KC)
Somerset LI
W Yorks
E Yorks
Lanc Fus
S Lancs (Beret)
Loyals (KC & QC)

I'll let others add the Cav and Corps etc.

Andy

Thanks Andy,

Peter

hi peter
my 2 cents
add to andys list anything with a kings crown
bc

Yeomanry
1. Loyal Suffolk Hussars
2. City of London
3. Sussex Yeomanry

The above achieve good prices.....

norfolk
 

norfolk beret and collars may cost you £250.00

Griff,

agreed but they are not in the same ball park as the prices realised for the Infantry badges?

Andy

I have seen a set of Wessex Ano collars advertised recently for £50 Is this realistic or a typo by the seller?

Ry

RB KC Ano Sold recently £330 + fees and Postage

Ry

they are scarce but that's rather steep, all depends on whether 2 people are prepared to bis against each other!

Andy

Wessex Collars
 

Thanks Andy,

I was sent a pair of these as part of a recent exchange by a forum friend along with the cap badge. I wasn't expecting the collars at all and they make a nice set all together. I have no plans to put them up for sale but it's nice to know that they are fairly scarce and therefore desireable.

Regards

Ry

Hi Andy,

I would forget about the RUC (KC), West Yorks and East Yorks.

The others are pretty desirable though.

Regards

Chris

Hi BC,

Some QC versions of the KC are rarer - e.g. Surrey Yeomanry.

Regards

Chris

Hi Charlie,

Beware of these.

Genuine Timings marked ones do exist but so do dodgy unmarked 1980's Gaunt pieces and fake marked Timings.

Regards

Chris

What sort of value does a Q/C Ano RB blackened have?

Cheers

Phil

Hi Guys,

There are a lot rarer items than those listed so far but you will have to wait until the book comes out to find out what they are - all backed up with official documentation too.

Yes, I am going as fast as I can...

As a teaser the “P” (Buckinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry) Battery, 299th (Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA) is pretty scarce.

See piccy - note the existence of the scroll below.

Regards

Chris

Hi Phil,

For me nothing as although they were worn by serving members these subdued badges were never officially authorised at War Office or MoD level.

It all depends on what one collects - if happy with Regimental authorisation then possible a fiver.

Regards

Chris

I have spotted an Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders A/A subdued..... is this real (looks good in the looking good sense!)?

http://www.britishmilitarybadges.co....ohuo%20139.JPG

Thanks chris, it cost me nothing so im happy with a fiver. Not selling though as i like it.

Cheers

Phil

Well it's real Griff but it depends on what you collect.

It may have been used by a A+SH soldier but again I think that eBay is currently flooded with so many different unit's subdued badges which have to be coming from dodgy dealers flogging off to the unsuspecting.

As I said, at War Office and MoD level no subdued badges were authorised for issue although there are some all black badges that always came that way such as the 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles).

At Regimental level some badges do seem to have been authorised although I have never seen any official documentation recording the fact.

Pays yer money and takes yer choice I suppose...

Regards

Chris

Hi Chris,

Happy that Mine is a good Timmings.

I have seen the unmarked copies going for around the £40 mark which I suppose in relation to price of the real deal could be considered acceptable as a gap filler. it seems that there are those who are willing to pay it!

Ry

Hi Ry,

Do you know the difference between a good Timings mark and a dodgy one?

Regards

Chris

Hi again Chris,

To be honest, no! But I know a man who does and he was impressed when I showed him the badge.

You may also remember this thread from a while back;

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ad.php?t=12953

Regards

Ry

Don't wanna spoil the fun of Hagwalther's book, but think it worth mentioning that, among many others, Bosley's auctioned these AA badges during the past few years...

RSF £242
13th London Regt £201
KC RASC £605

Prices shown were all very significantly increased by the addition of seller's premium, buyer's premium, credit/debit card charges, regimental subs, mess fees etc.

There are plenty more examples of AA badges sold at £600 and more.

I presume that it was a KC RSF as the QC are about £40.

The KC RASC does not surpise me but the 13 Londons is vastly over priced. I bought one for £10 ....

You are right Alan, on all counts.

It was a KC. AA QC RSF went for £132 in Feb 05 and £110 in Jan 06.

There are plenty of examples of AA badges selling for hundreds of pounds, though it seems collectors don't often mention such high prices paid for staybrites within their own collections.

I am surprised at the Q/C RSF as I bought one 3 years ago from Bosleys postal auctions for £40 including fees and postage. You never can tell with auctions.

Around twelve months ago I came across an a/a Manchester Regiment badge the dealer was asking £90, thought that was steep but looking at the prices realised maybe it was a fair price. :eek:
Tony.

Ludicrous price for a Mancs badge. I found one in a scrap box in an antique shop in one of the shopping arcades in central Cardiff. £5 and it was mine.

I bought a 13th London (Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment) in silver anodised from a dealer in Covent Garden (Jubilee Market) about 6 weeks ago for £2.00

Tim

No worries William.

I'm not recording prices in the book but I do allocate a 'scarcity' code to each badge that I have evidence of that was:

a) Officially authorised for issue
b) Actually manufactured

Both Royal Scots Fusiliers get a 'C' grade (highest) and the 41st Signal Regiment (Princess Louise’s Kensington) (TA) a 'B'.

'A' grade badges are like the very common 5 quid items on eBay. All pretty arbitary mind.

Mind you my Royal Scots Fusiliers [Tudor] only cost me a tenner on eBay so who knows.

Regards

Chris

Hi Gents,
There are of course several very scarce anodised alluminium badges. Generally because they are of a very early issue, limited in issue for a short period, a small or unique unit and of course they were not popular, so not saved by soldiers as a matter of course (like they may have done with brass or other metal badges). Being very light they are easily discarded by mistake and of course scuff/scratch/damage easily and discarded on purpose as a result. They were not popular by Battalions and Regiments who often directed posted in recruits to exchange them in favour of brass etc - we all know the stories (one of the more well known being that of the Loyal Regiment in tudor drown).

For my money, dont pass by a West Yorkshire Regt in A/A if you see one. An example went for several hundreds of pounds in auction a year or two ago.

There are of course rarer and more expensive Regts, but you just may see one of these lurking in a tin of rubbish one day!

Regards all

Bess

Hi Bess,

I rechecked my notes in response to a members email and while I have no evidence of the West Yorkshire being officially authorised for issue it does get into my 'possibles' appendix (with 21 others) on the grounds of construction by the particular maker.

Regards

Chris

mint pair you can have for £5.00, have large number of spare from my Wessex collection, obtained when 2nd wessex disbanded regards David In the old days[1973] purchased a carrier bag full of a/a badge -Kent auctions used to hold sales by Bedford Some are shown in my general album collection including silver R .Sussex - error

Been reading this thread with interest, and if you'll excuse me getting on my high horse for a moment (I'll probably fall off as an ex-infantryman)

What staybrite badges are worth getting? The ones you need for your collection!

Give some of us a chance rather than hoarding the scarce ones and making even more money for the providers at the over-priced end of the market due to even greater 'scarcity' (no names, no packdrill).

Oops, I just fell off :rolleyes:

Hi, Staffs Yeoman,

With the possible exception of a handful of dodgy 'dealers', I think there are very few 'hoarders' out there.

The issues are rather that there are so few genuinely old AA badges and the fact that the few folks who comprise the AA collection market-place are marginally more than the items for sale within it can satisfy. In other words, too many collecors, not enough badges.

Prices for rare AA badges have been high for a very long time - at least fifteen years, though some of us haven't always known what we were getting for our money.

Until recently it has been very difficult to spot a fake AA badge. I personally have spent many hundreds of pounds buying copies, fakes and rubbish from unscrupulous people, who are accepted as part of our 'community', even though they peddle trash at high prices. They are accepted because they also sell good badges, which collectors actually want, though they will always be ready to bilk a beginner.

Keep searching, keep looking, keep collecting. The badges you are looking for are out there somewhere.

Thanks William; fair point. I was just sounding a note of caution that someone who, for concocted example, collects 'Bedfordshire Yeomanry before 1914' now starts buying these identified rare A/A as a hedge against inflation, investment, whatever.

Perfectly natural, I can't dictate to anyone what they buy, but having a pecking order would surely affect supply, increase demand - and prices. Then the fakers.

Howling at the moon, I know...

Hi Staffsyeoman,

It is actually very hard to fake an A/A badge due to the process used to make them. The issue was (is) people going to the badge makers and having a batch of 'desirable' badges made by them which were then sold on to the unsuspecting collector.

However, these 1980's badges can easily be identified if one knows what to look for and if one knows what was actually officially authorised for issue in the first place.

There are now only a few A/A manufacturers left that traditionally made military badges via official contract and I doubt if any of these now makes A/A badges for the MoD due to their replacement by 'new metal' items. If I remember these companies are:

Firmin&Sons PLC
Shaw Munster
Toye Kenning & Spencer which also incorporate the London Badge and Button Co Ltd

Each has their own manufacturing attributes which is also era dependent. Therefore, if you if you see an older unit badge with a modern slider on more commonly associated by LB&B you can smell a rat straight away.

By listing A/A badges into a scarcity level of ranking all I have done is to identify which badges are common and which are scarce. I have not used prices as common in other publications as these constantly change in time. Now if some dodgy dealer out there (and believe me with all the info I have from collectors I would suggest that there are more bad dealers (even criminal) than good ones and don't get me going on auction houses which seem to be a law unto themselves) decides to get some 'C' type badges made then these badges will invariably come with modern attributes such as the slider etc and these modern attributes will be the indicator of an unofficial commission.

To take things further it is up to the collector to know what is and what is not a dud item. If you take a look at the guys in the German combat badge area you will see that they can ID fakes down to individual variant within maker within badge. These collectors are really on top of the fakers and I would say are 30 years ahead of the UK badge collector. To be quite honest, with all the good info out there, if a German badge collector buys a fake then they really only have themselves to blame. A British badge collector would do well to study some of the specialist German badge books and see the level of research and detail that these authors study and transfer the same to their collecting field.

Basically it simple - if you don't want fakes then don't buy them and if you don't know the difference between a fake and a good badge then don't buy badges or a specific badge until you do.

As I have said before on many occasions - if a member here wants me to give advice on any potential A/A badge then I will do so. A few members make extensive use of this service and I am always happy to carry it out. After approx. five years now of extensively studying these badges I believe it really has all fallen into place.

Regards

Chris

NORFOLK A/A COLLARS?
 

Further to the earlier posting relating to A/A badges.

Can the Forum member identify the examples shown in the enclosed picture as belonging to the Norfolk Regiment?

Excluding the backing plate, the actual badge itself measures 25mm high by 22mm wide.

Kind regards, Malcolm.

Hi Malcolm,

I don't know anything about collars but if you show images of the reverse I will tell you if I think the badges were made by the correct manufacturing method.

Regards

Chris