unmarked NZE Tunnelling Company badges

[MarkMcM]

Hello All,

In the process of digging around online regarding the NZE Tunnelling Co badge, I reached out to the NZ National Army Museum on the chance that they may have some examples for study and comparative purposes. The enquiry resulted a very productive exchange with Curator of Heraldry Elizabeth Mildon, who very kindly responded with excellent images of the example held in their collection. Significantly, this badge (attributed to Clifford Arthur Perry, NZ Rifle Brigade Reinforcements and later 2nd Battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regt) is a slider version, is unmarked and appears in all aspects to be identical to marked slider Tiptaft examples. Unmarked slider Tunnelling Company badges have been the point of some discussion here on the forums, and hopefully this latest information courtesy of the Ms. Mildon at NZ NAM will provide a fresh perspective on the matter. Images courtesy of NZ NAM.

[atillathenunns]

Originally Posted by MarkMcM

Hello All,

In the process of digging around online regarding the NZE Tunnelling Co badge, I reached out to the NZ National Army Museum on the chance that they may have some examples for study and comparative purposes. The enquiry resulted a very productive exchange with Curator of Heraldry Elizabeth Mildon, who very kindly responded with excellent images of the example held in their collection. Significantly, this badge (attributed to Clifford Arthur Perry, NZ Rifle Brigade Reinforcements and later 2nd Battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regt) is a slider version, is unmarked and appears in all aspects to be identical to marked slider Tiptaft examples. Unmarked slider Tunnelling Company badges have been the point of some discussion here on the forums, and hopefully this latest information courtesy of the Ms. Mildon at NZ NAM will provide a fresh perspective on the matter. Images courtesy of NZ NAM.

So far there are only two known manufacturers of NZ Tunneller cap badges, Gaunt and Tiptaft.
Gaunt tunneller badges are much more common than Tiptaft, which suggests to me Gaunt is early issue and Tiptaft was either private purchase or late issue.
Gaunt examples usually have a makers plaque, lugs and a pierced crown, but unmarked Gaunt examples do turn up from time to time, and so do Gaunt reproductions.

The following pictures show the backs of a genuine unmarked Gaunt and a repro Gaunt badge.

Gaunt Tunneller s unmarked Cap Badge.jpg
Gaunt Tunnelers copy reverse.jpg

Up until now I have not encountered an original unmarked Tiptaft badge but have seen many repro ones which are usually less weighty compared to an original, so I am quite happy to accept Clifford Perry’s badge as an original unmarked Tiptaft badge.

Below is a Tiptaft reproduction.

Tiptaft Tunnellers copy reverse.jpg

[MarkMcM]

the weight aspect is definitely a very interesting hypothesis... then again weight could be influenced by the thickness and length of the slider.

Here’s my unmarked example, which I’m very happy with...

[Luke H]

There seems to be a fairly common misconception in the antipodes regards some British made badges that if they’re by a certain maker they should all be marked (or double marked!) and if not are not correct and repros.

This is to me is very untrue.

With British badges those maker marked by the manufacturer are a minority compared to those they produced overall. And whilst I’m sure depending on the source of the contract makers marks are more likely on some than others (e.g. Gaunt made RNDs) to say if it has no mark it is a repro even when from the correct die is wide of the mark.

To date I am not aware of any British other ranks Tiptaft made badges being re-struck from the original Tiptaft dies.

Obviously fake makers marks including Tiptaft have in more recent years been added to a variety of badges from fake dies.

[nbroadarrowz]

There is still no evidenced based reference material to indicated that these badges were expressly made for and only used by tunnellers.
They are simply large size NZ Engineers badges.
Barry

[MarkMcM]

Originally Posted by nbroadarrowz

There is still no evidenced based reference material to indicated that these badges were expressly made for and only used by tunnellers.
They are simply large size NZ Engineers badges.
Barry

That may be true, but it’s tangential to the point of the thread (“Tunnelling Co” being a universally recognized descriptive of the badge type, if not unique to a particular corps)

[MarkMcM]

Originally Posted by Luke H

There seems to be a fairly common misconception in the antipodes regards some British made badges that if they’re by a certain maker they should all be marked (or double marked!) and if not are not correct and repros.

This is to me is very untrue.

With British badges those maker marked by the manufacturer are a minority compared to those they produced overall. And whilst I’m sure depending on the source of the contract makers marks are more likely on some than others (e.g. Gaunt made RNDs) to say if it has no mark it is a repro even when from the correct die is wide of the mark.

To date I am not aware of any British other ranks Tiptaft made badges being re-struck from the original Tiptaft dies.

Obviously fake makers marks including Tiptaft have in more recent years been added to a variety of badges from fake dies.

It's interesting that you mentioned "double-marked". Observing several unmarked but authentic Australian Gen Service badges that match up in all regards to marked Tiptaft examples is what started me down this rabbit hole. Its true what they say about the devil being in the details...