Hi Terry. In reply to your question, this large font J.R.GAUNT LONDON maker mark is a genuine mark found on many single metal and bi metal badges post WW2 and on early anodised aluminium badges thereafter up to the 60s. Conveniently, it is found on some badges both with King's Crowns and Queen's Crowns making it fairly easy to date to late 40s/50s on metal badges. In the case of the badge in your link, clearly the unit and the maker mark are not contemporaneous. I think the slider is possibly genuine and has been added to the badge. Whether the badge is genuine or not I wouldn't like to say. Although a genuine maker mark, I have seen WW1 period badges offered for sale with what appear to be genuine large font Gaunt marked sliders. I have also seen badges with sliders that don't appear to be of the Gaunt style, but with this mark on them. These both seem to suggest that someone got hold of a quantity of seemingly genuine Gaunt marked sliders and possibly also got hold of, or made, a large font Gaunt stamp. So, with this mark, some prudence has to be applied before accepting it as a guarantee of a genuine badge. Mike
|