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  #76  
Old 01-10-22, 03:36 PM
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Default Unusual variant of the Para Regiment badge?

Good evening gents,

I like to add pictures of a recent arrival to this thread.
It's an unusual variant of the Para Regiment badge I think.

I'm very interested in the opinions of forum members.

Marinus

PRA-BADGE-21-1.jpgPRA-BADGE-21-2.jpgPRA-BADGE-21-3.jpg
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  #77  
Old 01-10-22, 03:43 PM
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It is a genuine badge. I’ve seen this type referred to as the ‘wonky’ or ‘ugly’ crown variant. Not a common variant in comparison to Gaunt die badges etc.

A well known forum member has a badge from this die collected in the 1940s and handed down to him by his grandfather.
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  #78  
Old 02-10-22, 01:16 AM
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Well done, Marinus. This is what I call the Height-like Tail Type.
Cheers
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  #79  
Old 05-10-22, 07:49 AM
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Default Unusual variant of the Para Regiment badge!

Thank you for your replies, Luke and tcrown!

Marinus
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  #80  
Old 05-10-22, 12:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Force136 View Post
I have been going through this thread with interest as it is exactly what collectors need to discern, or at least to be safe, in acquiring original examples as well as to catalogue suspected reproductions.

I have tried my best to scour British archives for documents on British badge production during WWII in order to track down some mysterious Canadian private purchase badges.

I know you guys have probably factored all this in but you also need to be very careful regarding the process of badge manufacture. In studying the Canadian-made brass Canadian Parachute Corps cap badges it is evident that despite a badge only existing for a very short time, multiple dies existed. Dies were owned and controlled by the government. However, this did not prevent the various companies contracted from making their own under different circumstances. Sometimes, if a die was damaged, they would be asked by the government to make a new one.

Considering the huge difference in numbers required between an Airborne School / Battalion and a multi-Battalion Regiment over a much longer period with the huge plethora of government contracted badge makers ( as well as the possibility of private manufacturers ) the numbers of die variants of the British Parachute Regiment badge can be daunting to figure out.

One question I always had, for example, regarding suspected reproduction badges we know originated as private purchases, is why would someone go to all the trouble and expense to create a completely new die when one could simply create a die from an original? Or, at that time, simply get the company to make a new batch from the original dies. A case in point is the 1st Canadian Armd Carrier Regt. and its distinct wartime die and a totally new die to produce the repro.

This has always had me wonder if there were not more than one die made during the war and the other "repro" badges simply did not get to the unit which was, like the Parachute Battalion, quickly demobbed and sent home.

I am wondering if this possible scenario might also apply to certain British badges. I am not saying this IS what happened, just have not been able to disprove the possibility. My point is, there may have been variants in the pipeline at the end of the war that did not make it to the unit. Also, firms that took it upon themselves to make their own private purchase badges may have sold dies off at the end of the war or made OR's badges using dies they may have originally used for officers' badges.

Anyway just a thought.
Very interesting thought. I'm arriving kind of the same conclusion with other commando badges I have study. The only way to know would be to find manufacturers' archives or people who had inside information on that process. Has anyone try to contact the big manufacturers from that time ?
Soldiers must have had no clue about that as they must have been focused on training or war. Maybe officers or people in charge of batch ordering (if it was the officers who were doing that).
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  #81  
Old 10-10-22, 09:28 AM
stuart stuart is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marinus View Post
Jack,

I think you are right "that the sealed pattern badge is a very close if not identical match to a Gaunt pattern badge".

Marinus

Attachment 232019
Pictures of my voided crown example next to my silver Gaunt made badge for comparison.

Stuart
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 20221009_121459.jpg (63.1 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg 20221009_121548.jpg (60.5 KB, 27 views)
File Type: jpg 20221009_121757.jpg (73.0 KB, 20 views)
File Type: jpg 20221009_121747.jpg (92.4 KB, 15 views)
File Type: jpg 20221009_121806.jpg (93.4 KB, 20 views)
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  #82  
Old 10-10-22, 10:36 AM
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Quote: 'One question I always had, for example, regarding suspected reproduction badges we know originated as private purchases, is why would someone go to all the trouble and expense to create a completely new die when one could simply create a die from an original?'

Quite simply because the original dies were long scrapped or like Firmin still in the possession of the original makers so fakers have been commissioning new dies for decades. Some original dies were obtained by fakers in the 1970s and used by fakers but I suspect that most of these have been worn out long ago.
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  #83  
Old 28-12-22, 02:12 AM
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Hi guys, reopening this topic.
What do you think about this one ?
It looks a bit similar to the one discussed previously in the thread.
The back is very well detailed. Hard to see the lugs on that photo.
Thanks in advance.
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File Type: jpg para.jpg (42.0 KB, 46 views)
File Type: jpg para back.jpg (49.4 KB, 39 views)
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  #84  
Old 28-12-22, 08:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elwe23 View Post
Hi guys, reopening this topic.
What do you think about this one ?
It looks a bit similar to the one discussed previously in the thread.
The back is very well detailed. Hard to see the lugs on that photo.
Thanks in advance.
A reproduction that has been extensively discussed here https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...t=63323&page=3
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  #85  
Old 28-12-22, 11:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tcrown View Post
A reproduction that has been extensively discussed here https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...t=63323&page=3
Thanks Tcrown. I'm gonna study that.
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