How accurate should we be?

[Bill A]

Sales listings vary considerably in their content and historical accuracy. One well known vendor of Canadian badges gives a "cut and paste" lineage of the unit and a somewhat detailed description of the badges. Other vendors throw up a listing with minimal description. Some vendors post a pic and that is it. This may be a rhetorical question, but how much description should be provided?

[Phillip Herring]

Hard to say. Some descriptions are a bit creative or simply inaccurate. Many vendors simply don't know what the item is and cannot be bothered to use existing references to properly identify it.
As for the potted history, I can look that up myself. It makes for too much sifting to find the description.

Phil

[cefguy]

I think that it depends on how badly you want to sell the badge. To me it is not necessary to cut and paste the history of the Battalion. It is more important to provide detail (if any) of the actual badge. If there is some little know fact or provenance etc, then that is certainly of interest. I see vendors stating that there is no maker's mark where in even a slightly out of focus picture you can see that there is a MM. Some will say that the badge has original lugs, then neglect to mention that those same original lugs have been crudely reattached. At the end of the day those vendors who put out at least front and back photos of a badge with a complete basic description of that badge as far as they can see it gain a reputation of being good people to buy a badge from. They are more likely to realize a price closer to the one they want.
Don

[Bill A]

Agreed regarding the cut and paste potted history. If the history is relevant to the badge in question, the select part is all that is needed. For example, during the SWW the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa mobilized as an MG battalion, were redesignated as a support battalion and returned to the machine gun designation later in the war. Each change led to a different design of shoulder title. The history of the lineage is relevant in this case.

[Cribyn]

Hello Bill

Very interesting topic.

If I can comment from a military button collecting point of view, I think at least two good photos should be used, one front and one back plus close-ups of any detail if this would help. A description is always necessary as sometimes photos are not very reliable as to whether the item is brass, gilt, white metal or silver, for example. Dimensions should always be given and a mention of the condition is important too although it has to be borne in mind that one person's 'very good condition' is another person's 'well polished and worn'!

Personally I can do without the potted history of the unit; if needed this can always be sourced elsewhere.

I guess that much of this applies to badges as well.

Personally I loathe the 'what you see is what you get' description with a photo of someone's desktop (or keyboard!) with an out of focus, indistinct object somewhere in the middle!

Regards
Roger

[leigh kitchen]

I can't stand reams of irrelevant "information", a beginners guide to the history of the army / a regiment / a war, instead of relevant info. relating to the item for sale. I don't need to know how many battalions the regiment had in WWI, how many VCs awarded, what the regimental march was in 1815, when the item for sale is an anod. aluminium badge from the 1980's & I don' t even know if it's got its lugs or slider unbroken.

I do notice that some dealers of repute give the briefest details possible - don't say a lot. there's less to challenge.
Like me in this post - don't say a lot.

[Pylon1357]

I don't collect badges so I don't care.

OK now that I have pissed off a few people with that accurate statement.... I have never liked the irrelevant cut and paste histories of a battalion within the badge description.

What really frustrates me are the listings with one poor quality photo and the statement along the lines of "the picture says it all" Well based on that, the badge must be pure crap cause that is all the darned photo is CRAP. I do the same thing in regards to medals.

If I am interested, I will ask for better photos. I go from there.

[Chipper]

As a relative newcomer to British badges, I do like a little history with badges. No real need to have pages of info, but something is nice. I also like to see references, whether it be KK, Westlake or some other - it certainly helps me.

My pet hate are photos. These days most phones take decent pictures, so to post a bad picture, be it blurred, too far away too dark or too light, seems ridiculous, especially if selling badges is your profession or part time profession. Also not showing front and back instantly turns me off...

Tim

[David Tremain]

Forget the history unless, as Bill says, it has some relevance to the design of the badge or button. As others have said, most of it is not relevant, and anyone interested in the badge would, I hope, have boned up on it.

The type of metal(s); fixings (slider, lugs, etc); officer's or ORs; whether printed or woven if it's a cloth badge.

Condition is very important as it's not always immediately obvious from some photos. Are there any terms we can use such as those used by coin and medal collectors to describe condition? I guess in most case it is unlikely to be "mint" unless it's come straight from the factory.

References, such as K&K and others, are always helpful.

Provenance can only be applied if it's come from a known source, not just a guy on a stall at a fair.

David

[rhodesianmilitaria]

I can answer your question by showing how I do it on just two of my listings.

Rhodesia SAS OR's beret badge

Australian CDT EOD patch — Blue

In my experience most people are just interested in good detailed photos and a short description. If they want to know history then they can look it up.

[Phillip Herring]

Originally Posted by rhodesianmilitaria

I can answer your question by showing how I do it on just two of my listings.

Rhodesia SAS OR's beret badge

Australian CDT EOD patch — Blue

In my experience most people are just interested in good detailed photos and a short description. If they want to know history then they can look it up.

I like that you give the dimensions. The key with your listings is you are listing your items as a serious collector would want to see them.

Phil

[Bill A]

Hi Phil, Your listing could be a template. It is concise and gives the key information a badge collector needs. An additional criteria could be Materials, Construction and Maker Mark.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally Posted by Bill A

Sales listings vary considerably in their content and historical accuracy. One well known vendor of Canadian badges gives a "cut and paste" lineage of the unit and a somewhat detailed description of the badges. Other vendors throw up a listing with minimal description. Some vendors post a pic and that is it. This may be a rhetorical question, but how much description should be provided?

How badly do you want it to sell?

I love poor descriptions because it makes it harder for the rest of you to find and outbid me on the stuff I want.

If I am selling, I wonder though - is it worthwhile to put in a detailed description? It may be possible to be too complete. Impulse buyers also buy stuff just to see what it is...