In light of PembrokeYeo’s recent posting I thought I would put up the following pictures of a Royal Warwicks badge that I recently acquired, which I think will have some relevance:
The badge shown above has a J.R. Gaunt B[’ham] mark, which I believe is the one associated with 1970s restrikes made by the Company themselves specifically for the collectors’ market, after their takeover by the Birmingham Mint. The final part of the mark has not been well stamped, and consequently only the “B” of “B’ham” is shown, but apart from that I personally think the mark is genuine, even if it is only the 1970s one. This badge also has an overlaid bottom “Royal Warwickshire” scroll just like PembrokeYeo’s badge, as opposed to the usual tabbed on kind. More than this the actual style/design of the antelope looks to be exactly the same as PembrokeYeo’s one as well, which would imply to me that both badges are the manufacturers’ version used by J. R. Gaunt & Son.
I am not sure if these badges should be strictly called restrikes, as I personally think the overlaying of the bottom scroll rather odd, and it may be better to see them as reproductions rather than true restrikes; unless someone happens to have an authentic one of these with an overlaid bottom scroll from the correct period? Nevertheless both badges certainly seem to be a Gaunt design/style, but as I understand it is also believed Gaunt’s dies found their way into the hands of a third party who continues to produce restrikes/repros, it would be difficult to say if PembrokeYeo’s badge was actually made by Gaunt, as I believe mine to have been, or by the person who ended up with their dies.
Interestingly I have also seen other Birmingham Pals Battalions’ badges of this exact same style of antelope, but with a more correct shorter “Royal Warwickshire” bottom title (though these actually seem to be shortened regular scrolls, and their shape does match those on the genuine badges). Again these are overlaid, with the relevant Birmingham Battalions scroll then tabbed on underneath this. It would appear that someone realised their mistake in using the longer “Royal Warwickshire” scroll of the regular battalions as the basis of these reproduction Birmingham Pals badges, before changing things to a shorter scroll. Though once again, it is hard to know if this was J. R. Gaunt themselves or the later restriker. Anyhow, I thought I would just share these few observations with the Forum in the hope they are of some help.
Best regards
Martin