Simple Things Please Simple Minds! - WW1 Chaplains

[2747andy]

I have plenty of fancy and elaborate badges amongst my collection, but there is something about the basic simplicity of these badges which seem to attract the eye! Does anyone else have a "Basic" badge that they never tire of looking at? Unless of course you're the selfish type who just has them sitting on ones desk and never share!

Andy

[High Wood]

I think that the badge you have posted is a superb design, simple yet stylistic and with graceful use of curved lines.

Conversely, in my opinion the most badly designed of any Great War cap badge from an artistic point of view is that of the Army Cyclist Corps. If in reality you placed two crossed rifles behind a bicycle wheel would all them except the rifle butts and the foresights become invisible?

[ubervamp]

Originally Posted by High Wood

Conversely, in my opinion the most badly designed of any Great War cap badge from an artistic point of you is that of the Army Cyclist Corps. If in reality you placed two crossed rifles behind a bicycle wheel would all them except the rifle butts and the foresights become invisible?

Hmm...never condsidered that

[High Wood]

Showing both rifles would not have added a huge amount to the cost of production and would have been more aesthetically pleasing but probably wouldn't have altered the course of the war.

[davec2]

Originally Posted by 2747andy

I have plenty of fancy and elaborate badges amongst my collection, but there is something about the basic simplicity of these badges which seem to attract the eye! Does anyone else have a "Basic" badge that they never tire of looking at? Unless of course you're the selfish type who just has them sitting on ones desk and never share!

Andy

Hiya mate,

Some time ago, we were asked to show our twenty favourite badges ( not necessarily basic ) ! I personally found that impossible to do thirty or forty, maybe but twenty, no.

Now you ask if we have one, albeit basic, you're having a laugh I have just had a quick look-see through my badges !! Royal Fusiliers and the trusty old lamb were the first I looked at but then I found a ' plethora ' of favourite badges, Coldstream Guards, lovely, simple and nice to look at, KRRC, 16th London and on and on, I nearly offered my Yorkshire badge ( enamelled ) as my sole favourite but it too was amongst many, I gave up ???

I then thought of a badge that I had seen in Wilf's Hertfordshire collection and knew that I had to get me one !! so I thought that if I were to mount one badge and put it in full view all the time, it could be the Hart !! In short Andy, one of the reasons I started collecting badges was the fact that there are so many beautifully designed badges out there including a very simple DERR which was my regiment, that I would have thought it impossible to choose ! in fact, I am amazed that with all your badges and I have seen most of them, that you can pick just one.

What an interesting thread though, it should throw up many different badges according to what different members want from a badge ??

Dave.

[Lampwick]

Here's mine. I don't have a clue what it is only that it came with all of my Indian badges. The frame just happened to be spare. Looking at the back is rather like looking at a peacocks arse! The frame and badge are the colour of the 2nd photo'.

[Keith Blakeman]

The plain old South Wales Borderers for me. I love the style of the SWB lettering, almost graffiti like.

[btns]

A button from a Swedish shipping company.

[Frank Kelley]

Hello Andy,
Not really a cavalry collector, but, I love all those worn in Victoria's day, the quality and attention to detail, I've always liked them and remember collecting them as a school boy, almost all found in South Africa, where they could be had for very little!
I can see why you like your Chaplains badge too, a really nice example!
Kind regards Frank Kelley

Originally Posted by 2747andy

I have plenty of fancy and elaborate badges amongst my collection, but there is something about the basic simplicity of these badges which seem to attract the eye! Does anyone else have a "Basic" badge that they never tire of looking at? Unless of course you're the selfish type who just has them sitting on ones desk and never share!

Andy

[Paddy]

Has to be this one, nice and simple design but short lived and pretty scarce.

Paddy

[fougasse1940]

A wheel, a scorpion and four initials. as simple as possible. And no I don't have one sitting on the desk next to me.

Rgds, Thomas.

[Frank Kelley]

If I had to pick from them, a particular favourite, I suppose it would have to be the Chambermaids!
Love eagles, hate huns!

Originally Posted by Frank Kelley

Hello Andy,
Not really a cavalry collector, but, I love all those worn in Victoria's day, the quality and attention to detail, I've always liked them and remember collecting them as a school boy, almost all found in South Africa, where they could be had for very little!
I can see why you like your Chaplains badge too, a really nice example!
Kind regards Frank Kelley

[2747andy]

Frank,
here's a "Mint" post 1903 example, you can just out where the lugs were!

Andy

[Frank Kelley]

Hello Andy,
Always been a favourite of mine and yours is a very nice example, the Chambermaids did well in South Africa and fought on both fronts.
Kind regards Frank Kelley

[wright241]

Frank Kelly's comment on the Victorian levels of quality is spot on. These KDG badges were made outside of that era, but I still reckon they are one of the nicest sets I have and definitely convey the same level of quality. I can't really come up with anything as simplistic and striking as the ones Andy has shown, so these will have to do. As usual, my picture doesn't do them credit and seeing them in the flesh counts for so much more. But there you are then.
David