Gaunt Buttons

[Cribyn]

There can be no doubt that the Birmingham Battalion buttons have the correct style backmark for First World War period buttons and are absolutely genuine.

Sorry to say I agree with David about Rob's Parachute Regiment button though! It does have the look of being a 1970s restrike, unlike the Para button shown by GTB.

I have attached some photos of some of my buttons. The first shows a gilt/brass QC Royal Horse Guards with 'Gaunt London'; the one next to it is an anodised QC Scots Guards again with 'Gaunt London' but this time the 'G' is badly struck. I have no reason to doubt that both buttons are perfectly genuine examples.

The last one is of an anodised KC East Surrey Regiment with 'Gaunt London' backmark perfectly formed. Again I have no reason to doubt that this is genuine and thus is reasonable proof that this backmark was in use in the early 1950s.

I don't think a loose shank is much help with dating. As a rule of thumb loose shanks tended to be used on other ranks' buttons although there does seem to be a tendency for most modern anodised buttons to have a fixed shank (certainly most of mine are but this may be down to limited suppliers rather than anything else).

The KC KSLI button shown by GTB seems to be OK in my view. If it has the green back and the oddly struck 'G' and 'T' in Gaunt though it may not be!

Collecting buttons is so much fun!

Roger