Quote:
Originally Posted by dumdum
Made by a Wellington maker, C.M. Bay. You may find that it has a very small "R.D." (Registered Design) number on it somewhere - e.g. "R.D. 380".
I've heard that Bay (or his agent) would visit the camp(s) on a semi-regular basis to take orders and even produce designs for them.
At the back of my mind too is a half-remembered story that they had what we would today call a "pop up shop" selling the badges.
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As a Wellington local, I am a keen researcher and collector of badges made by Wellington makers, do you have a picture of a C.M. Bay made Reinforcement Cyclist badge that you can share?
Many Jewellers/Watch makers set up shop within the military camps during WW1, so it wouldn’t surprise me that Bay was one, but so far have seen no advertising evidence that supports Bay opened a shop at either Trentham or Featherston camps.
The Registered Design / RD number at the bottom of both the Reinforcement Cyclist Cap and collar badges is RD838-9.
Both RD838 and RD839 are registered to Smith & Sherlaw, Watch Makers and Jewellers from Levin who set up a shop at Featherston Camp.
The following cropped WW1 photo shows Smith & Sherlaw’s shop at Featherston Military Camp.
This cropped WW1 photo shows J, E. Fitt, Watch Maker and Jeweller shop at Featherston Military Camp.
