A badge for only one man
 

This is probably the rarest badge ever worn by a member of the British or Commonwealth forces.

It is the cloth shoulder rank badge of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey (a man not particularly popular with the rank and file) but the Commander in Chief of the Australian military forces during WWll.

It is rare because, although Britain has/had Field Marshals to burn, there has only ever been one Australian Field Marshal.

The others have worn a similar rank badge but never with 'Australia' embroided on it.

A badge that could only be worn by one man must be rare.

The badge was given to me by Lady Blamey (in the early 1950s) to include in a display that I was arranging to raise funds for a large charity.

The Governor of Queensland Lt General Sir John Lavarack (another famous Australian General of WWll) gave me his tunic and also his Vice Regal Aiguillette which I will post when I find it.

Surely this is unique, not rare.
Rarity is when there is more than one and for various reasons it has become rare and hard to find.
That's my understanding of rare, anyway.
STM.

I think that you are splitting hairs there

A dictionery definition of 'rare' is

especially valued for its uncommonness

hi sarmajor
got to agree with stm, unique but not rare. is this not the standard commonwealth insignia for field marshal? adorning a standard australian shoulder title?
in my opinion
bc

having said all this, a fantastic piece of australian history. mate, your collection and your life must have been varied, interesting and unique
bc

I think I would best describe this as a 'personality item'. This is where its monitory value is derived although I am sure this piece has more meaning to the owner than money.

No worries, Sarmajor.
What is your rarest British badge, may I ask ?
STM.

Mines, I think a 'Chindit Rocket Troop' badge, Peter knows how many were made in the small size (around 4-6 IIRC)..... so rather rare.

Tom

It is the reverse of what you say in that it is a standard commonwealth insignia for field marshal with the title 'Australia' added.

I would suggest that the Australia embroided on the rank badge is an integral part of that badge.

If you take a badge apart and evaluate its various components you would open a whole new can of worms.

Would you value each part of a bimetal badge by taking it apart and evaluating each piece?

It would be a different matter if Blamey's rank badge was cloth and metal made up of the crossed battons, a crown and a metal australia title (or a cloth sleeve with three metal components) as that could be interpreted as a made up badge.

In my item everything is stitched during manufacture.

You are really splitting words between rare or unique as my contention is that this badge is officially gazetted and no other field marshal has worn a badge enbroided with the word 'Australia' - consequently my badge is practically one of a kind (unique or rare) and unlikely to be in any other collection.

I have never claimed that it was particularly valuable however a full set of Australian army rank badges could not be considered complete without that badge being included - and mine is genuine having been taken from Blamey's uniform by his widow. As that was over 50 years ago I would hardly expect the other to surface now.

I don't really know STM

As I mentioned before I have only looked at part of the collection during the last 25 years and, even then, I have only glanced at a belt or two- no more than 2 or three times during that period.

Also, as stated, I am not an overknowledgeable collector, and I am probably not in a position to determine values of British badges especially as I have never swapped nor bought and have not kept up with market values - if I ever knew them in the first place.

Also my more valuable items are my medals which go back to early Victoria and, even in the badge line, a lot of my military items are not British.

Just as an example I have got quite a number of US badges of civil war vintage (including original Seventh Cavalry badges of Custer's era) which could be quite valuable.

Over 50 years ago I used to correspond with a US sargeant who was stationed at West Point where he worked at the West Point Museum.

That academy had a tradition in that graduating officers would send various momentoes of their service back to the museum for display.

Like most museums they had more items languishing in the basement than they ever had on display.

I traded a few hundred Rising Sun cap badges (about the only time that I have ever swapped anything) which I had accumulated from the discards at local unit Q stores and, in return, he sent me a few hundred US badges - about a couple of dozen of which are civil war vintage.

He sent me a selection of then current West Point badges (helmet plate, cap badges etc) but, although I did not ask him directly - where do you think that he got the Civil War badges from?

Do you need to guess.

That was over 50 years ago so they do not have a hope in hell of getting them back.

To answer your question, after I post a few British badges perhaps you might be able to tell me what is my most valuable British badge.

It sounds like a fabulous collection, sarmajor - I'd love to have a rummage through it !
Badge value doesn't really interest me, most of the stuff I have you can pick up quite easily and the really expensive stuff I leave to people with more money than sense - (Anodised badges selling for £400, they can keep them as far as I am concerned).
I look forward to all the British stuff you show, Thank's.
STM.

I take it that by anodised badges you are referring to that plastic staybright shit.

I have been given the odd one or two over the last few years (usually current stuff from local corps) and I can only say that they are unadulterated crap.

No doubt the grunts are happy that they do not have to polish them however most have little definition and look glitzy and cheap.

Give me the good old brass

A badge for only one man
 

SARMAJOR, Do you have the other one to make it a pair?? If not someone else could say the same! Some thing to think about, Regards Jerry :eek:

No......... at the time she told me that the other had been scorched while ironing and she had thrown it out.

That was one of the reasons why she gave it to me as she considered that the tunic was no good with only one rank badge.

She also gave me all the general officer's buttons off the tunic which I have amongst my buttons. I also have rank badges and buttons given to me by two other famous Australian general officers - together with their bullion red tabs and a general officer's cap badge

That was over 50 years ago so the chance of that other scorched rank badge surfacing in any other collection is as good as me winning Lotto.

And this badge looks like ?