Gold Sweetheart badge Peagus 1942
 

Can I run this past you...Just picked this up and she's gold, very well made and hallmarked 1942...has anyone else seen similar?
Mark

Gold Sweetheart, etc.
 

If the Hallmark is actually for 1942, then your item is almost certainly genuine. A Hallmarked gold item of this nature suggests an officer's gift to his wife/sweetheart and must be very rare. I remember in the 1970s Charles Lusted offering for sale a Hallmarked silver Pegasus badge/brooch for sale - it didn't stay on his list for 5 minutes. I await with interest the view of the Forum pundits on this one. Am I right in thinking that the maker's mark is HS ? If so, it is an H. Samuel item, which adds to its likeleyhood of being genuine. Regards. David

Looks genuine and ok to me and very unusual . Its unusual in that most of the ones I have seen were done. The only issue about gold having hallmarks or not is that up to sometime in the 1970's Jewellers/Goldsmiths didn't have to hallmark private commission work at all - this was especially true of sweetheart brooches. I am also not certain about Davids suggestion that it might be an H.Samuel piece - I could be wrong. It would be interesting to try and find out whether they were Goldsmith registered in those days to do this sort of work. I have seen plenty of their marks on "normal" (i.e. domestic) silver - but never on any (military) badges or brooches etc. Saying that, its still a very nice piece and definitely unusual.
I am not a Parachute Regt expert, but I assume that this depiction of Pegasus
is in keeping with what it should look like.
It looks like it has a gold purity figure and I also can't quite make out (eyes are getting old...) the complete set of marks. If its not one of the British Goldsmith marks then the HS (obviously) could be another company.
Lovely badge and I have never one like this before. Well done.

Gold etc.
 

I take the point made by the previous posting but my question was specific - does the brooch have a HALLMARK ? A Hallmark consists of 3 essential elements - 1. The lion to indicate British gold, 2. An Assay Office mark indicating the specific location (London, Birmingham, Sheffield, etc.) and 3. A date letter. Marks which simply say 925, 18ct or 22ct. are not Hallmarks - they are gold standard marks, which are not the same. So, if this brooch has a lion, Assay mark and date letter (for 1942) then it is clearly genuine. As to exemptions for certain items, it is true that small trinket or jewellery items did not require full Hallmarking. Also, a maker's mark was not a requirement but as I see the letters HS it does suggest H. Samuel the Jewellers - particularly as that would be just the place to go for a private purchase item such as this and in this quality. Hope that clarifies the point I made initially. Regards. David

I'll try to get a clearer pic...the part that looks like HS is actually a side on anchor (showing it was from the Birmingham Assay Office) and the letter S in the script of 1942. I'd love to know the history behind it as I can't see a soldier having the money to commission such an item with the war time constraints of 1942!

"Ordinary" soldiers (as far as pay goes - they certainly were not ordinary in any other sense) probably wouldn't have, but there were still people around who would and could afford to do this - the class system still existed even those days and private means was not unusual.
For all that, I have still never seen a gold version of Pegasus. The only one I have ever seen was a really good quality HM silver Pegasus belonging to an officers wife in Dering Lines in the late 50's. Never seen a gold one.
I have seen a lot of wartime period HM's on gold and silver sweetheart brooches. I am sure my Gran would have loved to have been able to afford more eggs etc with the money that these things must have cost - you will have to excuse todays rant - its very stressful here.
Only thing I can add is that all of the gold ones I have seen so far have related to Cavalry regiments, the RAF, RFC, RN and one to the SAS.
its a very nice brooch.

Gold etc.
 

Mark - Thank you for clarification of the Hallmark. Now that you explain, the anchor and date letter are clear. The only additional comment I would make is that Pegasus items are in great demand - patches and the like - and with your item being so very rare, of such quality and clearly original, it has some considerable value, not only intrinsically but as a collectors item which would be in great demand. If only you could establish provenance - who bought it and for whom ? Not, I suspect, an enlisted man and probably an officer of means. I repeat what has already been said - a very, very nice item. Thank you for sharing it with us. David

Anyone hazard a price for this?

More than when you first asked 8 years ago!
Thats for sure

regards

I was rather confused by the title of this thread, "Peagus" :confused:
Yes, similar in platinum, gold and silver has been in production for a long time, but, "she" is most certainly a "he" at least, I think Bellerophon was almost certainly " a bloke" and I am very confident Pegasus was a stallion!:eek:

Oh no Simon, 2008, a zombie thread, sorry!:(