[davidwyke]

Hi Chaps

As regards when Gaunts first used the "Gaunt / London" backmark on large size buttons.

Some people say it's as early as 1945 but that's probably because they would like the war-raised cavalry buttons with this backmark to be genuine.

Others would say post 1952 but this is very unlikely as there are numerous KC buttons with this backmark which are almost certainly genuine; some of them, as Roger says, are very common today and would have been even more so when the repros were produced.

In my opinion, the backmark was probably introduced c. 1949/1950.

As regards the 1970's repros - It's often said the first ones to be made were all the disbanded Irish Regts but the only two I can recall seeing are RMF & RDF. Some Yeomanry Regts were produced (Worcestershire is a common one), some line regts (Scottish & Irish regts seem to turn up most frequently), some Cavalry. Probably some Indian Army buttons also - some of the post 1922 regts have this backmark and at least some have the tell-tale signs of the repros.

There are several tell-tale signs which often mark out the repros but it will probably only confuse matters to list them as they can also appear on genuine buttons. However, the most common one (other than the backmark) is the poor quality "gilt" finish which the repros often have

I have been told that Gaunts produced the buttons in response to a specific request and that there was a production run of 500 (large size) for each of the buttons. The best list of them would be the postal sales list which they were sold from!

David

PS.... something important to remember about these 1970's repros and, even more so, the repros of pre 1881 line regt buttons - they are almost always offered for sale as genuine, even by respected dealers; probably more through lack of knowledge than anything.