Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke H
That’s not strictly accurate. Many manufacturers including a couple of early noted makers i.e. Tiptaft and Lambourne did not utilise braze holes when overlaying bi-metal badges as far back as during WW1.
I’d suspect as well some of the badges you are referring to are not ‘restrikes’ i.e. the original dies being used to make badges at a later date but rather fake dies newly produced en mass in the 1970s and beyond. The number of cap badges that have been restruck from original dies is comparatively small v’s new fake dies cut.
Conversely numerous restrikes and fakes do have braze holes such as Loyal Suffolk Hussars and Essex & Suffolk Cyclists respectively.
Whilst fakes more often than not do indeed lack braze holes as mentioned above they were not always ever-presents on genuine badges even in the relatively early decades of the 20th century and as time and manufacturing techniques progressed so did the numbers of badges manufactured without them.
That said it would appear that a couple of the main badge manufacturers i.e. Gaunt and Firmin were still using braze holes into the late 1940s / early 1950s. Additionally in the case of the badges in the opening post I would always expect to see braze holes on QVC/Edwardian era badges.
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It was as accurate as I could make it based on observation. Scientific and otherwise handling the real thing over many years learning through trusted dealers etc. Aside from rare exceptions (there are always exceptions) and the usual amount of deceitful hair-splitting, restrike badges, as I observed, dont get the solder right, or indeed the composite alloy known as guilding metal or its white brass counterpart which were both arrived upon for their ductility. Yes, some restrikes have these holes but you can usually tell from the solder, which was an industry standard that even the skilled repairers, (a couple of whom allowed me to watch them work) could not reproduce due to its heat and volatility. As usual, the truth is in the evidence, and the evidence is in the detail.