King's (Liverpool) Regt. '26 pattern badges

[Alan O]

Originally Posted by John Mulcahy

I find this a very interesting thread, are there any known reasons why regular units were making private purchases of other ranks badges during this time period?

John

It was not that unusual for regts to dislike a badge and get it changed. The RTC swiftly got rid of their rearward facing tank in 1924, the Inniskillings changed their badge in 1926 and then back again in 1934 etc. There are several examples of overseas regts wearing unofficial badges. Howard mentioned in a KDG thread that the regt wore privately bought w/m eagles rather than the issue brass ones. The Royal Dragoons also wore an unofficial eagle badge during WW1 before re-adopting the Lion over crown post-war.

What is odd is that the 1st bn took 23 years to get this one officially changed.

Alan

[KLR]

In this case Alan, it was the rest of the regt that caught up !, they changed the official badge to that of the 1st Bn design.
Incidentally, the latest WFA Bulletin (Oct/Nov 2008, no 82, p.17) Shows Lt RS Tarran of the 1st Bn wearing this badge - though it is a photograph that has been coloured and whether it really represents a S&G badge or a coloured in OSD is uncertain.
Attached is a photograph of my grandfather dated January 1915. He is clearly wearing the "1st Bn variation" though he was commissioned into the 16th Bn - a training Bn - and was never in the 1st Bn. He presumably bought what was available. This one shows him also wearing "1st Bn" collars, though another one has him wearing "1st Bn" cap badge with "normal" collars ! Others show him with "normal" cap badge - a right mixture !

[Chrisr]

Hi Julian,

These are the King's badges we have been discussing off forum. The lugged one seems to have had the slider removed and replaced by lugs. At the top lug there is a goldish colour protruding from beneath the solder.

Cheers
Chris

[KLR]

Morning / evening Chris, Yes they are both standard badges. The left one has had its slider removed though there is a trace of the flux left where it had been brazed on. I have a very similar one. I think this was probably done to fix the badge into the field cap or the GS cap - where loops/lugs were easier to keep the badge in place than a slider. Over the last few months I have been collecting ones with braze holes, misplaced, missing, or differnt spacings etc all of which convince me that they are punched into the undreplate by hand and they were occasionally hurriedly done. All specifically of this type - the most common variant of Pattern 10042/1926. J

[Chrisr]

Thank you Julian. Nice to have the confirmation that they are OK.

Cheers
Chris

[enfant perdus]

I wonder if any of our KLR experts can comment on the apparent desirability of this badge?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_1042wt_941

Is it an extremely rare variant? I've been sitting on this question for nearly a month, and curiosity has finally gotten the better of me.

[Peter Brydon]

I have a number of spare examples of this badge including one which I consider to be slightly rarer because it has the reinforcing bar visible at the front of the badge which the earlier collars had .

I would not put a value of more than £7-£10 max on this pattern bi metal collar.

P.B.

Always makes me wonder if I should be on the phone to my insurance broker if there is the faintest possibility that someone might be prepared to pay that sort of price for a badge like that

[KLR]

Extraordinary !
I don't collect collar badges and I gave one of these away a few years ago.
But I'll buy all the ones I can see at the next fair I go to.

[enfant perdus]

Thanks for the input, fellows. I was thinking there must be something very, very exceptional about it that only specialist collectors of that Regiment would recognize. I too was looking at my various King's collars and wondering what treasures I might have

Just another reminder that auctions are a funny game. The right day and the right people can produce amazing results. The better angels of my nature hope the winning bidder filled a critical gap with that collar.

Well done Peter, whatever the case!

[jeanpit-frenchy]

i had pay 12 GBP for this pair ......

Interesting to read about a collar that I sold on Ebay, I dont know why it fetched that kind of money and whats even more amazing the matching pair fetched over £100. Also they stayed in this country and not overseas.
I find with ebay...or evil bay it depends on how many are bidding and how badly they want the badges.
Just one other thing if you are a collar collector and you need the opposite facing to make your set up then you will pay whatever.

Peter