Quote:
Originally Posted by peter616
Alan, documentary evidence for the Y& L all cast brass WW2 badge (some poor and some v good quality)can be found in the battalion diaries of the 8th & 9th Battalions Y & L. These state that in 1942 & 1943 the men were allowed to purchase badges in the bazzars; due to lack of equipment they were allowed to buy both clothing & badges there. If you would like to check, I think the pages are March or April of those years. I would suggest to a lot of people to read the battalion diaries as they make very interesting reading. In the case of the Y & L diaries of which I have copies, they tell of unofficial badges being worn & how the dress regulations are not enforced for the sake of morale, especially in the harsh theatres of war, i.e. Gallipoli, India & particularly, Burma.
Thanks Bill, for clarifying that there is an all brass Black Watch badge & that it was worn by the Canadians.
Peter
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Peter,
I am sure that there are lots of examples of sand cast and bazaar badges that were worn and I fully agree that these are 'real' WW1 and WW2 'unofficial' badges which were accepted for wear by the regts. However none of these were produced under ACD contracts and as such they remain 'unofficial'.
However, to describe such badges as belonging to a particular Bn and pricing them accordingly is suspect. In a similiar vein this is exactly why I really disagree with Ww2 plastics (SStaffs/RUR/Border/Kings own) being sold as 'Airborne' Badges when in fact they were worn by many more non-airborne bns. Unfortunately many SF and AB collectors seem to take leave of their senses and buy them at inflated prices. I have a plastic Devonshire badge but I would never describe it as a 12th bn Glider-borne regt badge as there is no such thing and at least another 11 Bns plus, HG plus others who also wore it. A false market has been created by misleading information on the part of the sellers.
Alan