Quote:
Originally Posted by 49lassiepen
Perhaps Mike H or Hagwalther[Chris ] could give some help here
A novice question even after 40 years of collecting and a reasonable collection of a/a badges Since the brigade system was in use from 1958 -1968 ? after which the regiments started the ware their regimental badges Why are large number of brigade badges found with Gaunt B'ham as Gaunt only moved to Birmingham in the early 1970,s I would have suspected that there was no need to produce Brigade badges at this time
David
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Hi David,
The earliest date for the Gaunt B'Ham mark, that I have found, is early 1967. This was for some Queen's Regt badges with brass sliders marked as such which fell to pieces under certain circumstances.
Assuming that the Queen's Regt badges were not made in January 1967 (the date of the official correspondence complaining about them) we can surmise that they were made in 1966 or earlier as they needed to have time to actually break apart before being complained about in Jan 1967. As stated, this is the earliest date that I have for the Gaunt B'Ham mark, as found via official documentation, and not the 1970's as some continue to state, without any providence, creating confusion to yourself and many others in this matter.
The other issue is that while many regimental battalions wore the brigade badge the TA battalion often did not and, instead, continued to wear the original regimental badge, albeit in A/A. This is the reason many uninformed collectors say that a lot of regimental A/A badges are fake or for ACF use only as the regiments in question were known to have worn the brigade badge at the time. Well, usually the regular regimental battalions did wear the brigade badge but, as already stated, the TA battalions often did not.
More info can be found on both the above points in a certain book (click link below) if you need references etc. to contemporary correspondence, actual examples, etc.
Regards
Chris