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Old 29-10-20, 10:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Khyber View Post
Entirely agree Simon.
Can anyone tell me why these belts were made? was it by individual soldiers who wanted to have keepsakes for their time in the army? I know nothing about their history/usage if any..

A most interesting piece - and some very desirable badges.
The belts are all unique and were made by the individual soldier who collected the badges from various sources. They were almost certainly souvenirs of the greatest experience in the lives of those young men that made and wore them and reflected the theatre in which they served. They are not trophy belts made with insignia taken from a fallen enemy, but rather a reflection of the comradeship found in soldiers fighting for a common cause.

The badges were almost certainly swapped between soldiers, or given as a gift, perhaps from a wounded soldier to those looking after him. Other badges might have been used as currency in exchange for cigarettes or food; some may have been pinched from an unsuspecting comrade.

The belts used to be very common but many have been broken up by dealers or collectors in order to get a rare badge or make a quick profit.

As a young lad who collected "army badges", I used to note with fascination, that many of the dust men who came weekly to empty the bins, wore them.

There are also fake belts out there offered for sale by the unscrupulous, they tend to have badges from different conflicts that normally would not be found together such as Great War and Post WW2 badges, where a scarce badge has been replaced with a filler. Even, the superb belt shown in the original post has spaces where badges have been removed.
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