I cannot understand why on earth you would have so many different die struck badges being produced from so many different manufacturers, just because a badge appears in a book it certainly does not make it original, moreover, if the author, or indeed anyone else for that matter, acquires a badge from a veteran, that in itself does not make the badge original to the period in which it was worn by the regiment, it all comes down to when and from whom did the veteran concerned obtain the badge in question.
To be honest, I think Louis Grimshaw got it right, in his book Ex Colis and he was not able to offer an opinion on all these die struck badges other than the fact they exist and some have been around for a long time, I certainly would not buy any of them.
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Originally Posted by WJ Miller
Frank,
I don’t wish to come across as being obtuse but your argument is weak. I’m not seeing what you are seeing, obviously, so help me out…
Regarding the awful colour, lugs and die strike…. are you familiar with the typical Canadian badge of the period?? Most look pretty shitty with that unnatural yellow colour being a hallmark of the unissued/unused brass badge.
To quote, “why are there now so many different badges that are suggested to be original to what is such a small wartime organization”. ??
Well, they issued three distinct patterns of badge over a three year period. Plastic, brass and bi-metal for Officers. According to the extremely well documented and aforementioned ‘text book’ by Ken Joyce, there were at least 4000 OR’s badges produced in brass alone between 1944 and 1945 (by a handful of manufacturers). His book also illustrates known, veteran acquired badges in off metals like copper and silver, as well as badges with manufacturing defects.
Despite the popularity of 1CPB badges and the high prices they command, which fuels the repro market, this is not a rare or even scarce badge to acquire. The ‘text book’ examples you speak of sell quite regularly online and at military shops and shows all across Canada.
Undoubtedly, there is a market for repro examples of this badge, and there are MANY on the market AND some that are scary in their likeness to a genuine examples. The original poster is right to question the authenticity of this particular example.
I’m perfectly willing to accept that this specific example is a fake and it may well be. BUT it does not seem to exhibit ALL the problems or even the typical problems of the known repros that have been discussed on the forum prior. If this is a fake, let’s suss out what are the tell-tale signs.
Simply dismissing it as ‘utter dross’ isn’t exactly a smoking gun…
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