A new Canadian Cap Badge Collector's Guide

[DavidS]

Time to let the cat out of the bag! I've finished my collector's guide to Canadian Army cap badges!

A Collector's Guide to Canadian Army Cap Badges: 1920-1952 is a digital book in Acrobat PDF format.

500 pages, 460 badge entries, and over 430 new colour photos, packaged as a CD, for use on iPads, tablets, desktops and laptops. INCLUDES information on cap badges, varieties, reproductions, concise regimental and corps lineages, and pricing references for every Canadian Army corps and service, infantry regiment, cavalry regiment, armoured regiment in servicebetween Spring 1920 and 1952, plus the Royal Military College, COTC contingents, and all wartime services, volunteer, medical and civilian corps and services active during the Second World War.

Completely digital, completely portable, interactive and fully navigable, so getting around is a breeze. Entries organized alphabetically in twelve sections, providing convenient, single-source reference information at your fingertips — whether you’re at home or at a trade show. If you can carry a tablet around, you can carry this around!

Pricing information is provided as tables of actual sales (eBay, Canadian auction houses) tracked over the past 5 years, and 'dealer ask' prices as at May 31, 2012.

The CD and packaging are in final production now, and the guide should be available in the next 3-4 weeks. The initial run is 300 copies.

My deepest thanks go to Bill Miller and Bill Alexander from this Forum -- two fellows with good ideas who went above and beyond in assisting me over the last several months, and guys who really know how to keep a secret! My sincerest thanks, too, to Jaime and Wayne Cline (Marway Militaria), Mike McMahon (Arctic Medals), David Love, Dave Gale, Brian Hanning and Stu James (Calgary Military Historical Society), Victor Taboika, and Ken Reynolds (DHH) for their invaluable assistance.

[slick_mick]

Will it be available for purchase via a digital download?

I would much prefer to see reference material in this format rather than on CDs.



Mick

[slick_mick]

As a big iPad user, I would love to be able to purchase something like this and have it automatically download to my iPad - like you can do with ebooks purchased via Amazon.

Mick

[shootemup]

Interesting. Where is it available?

[DavidS]

The packaging and CD duplication is in production now, so I expect the finished product in about 3 weeks. For the time being, I will be selling the guide directly. I'm putting together a sampler PDF for some folks who have asked. If you want a look at that, or are interested in the guide, just let me know via email.

[DavidS]

An update on availability: my Guide CDs will be delivered from the replicators the week of Sept. 10 (crosses fingers and toes!), so I can start sending out orders then. Marway Militaria also will have copies for sale.

I appreciate the positive feedback from those of you who have asked for the PDF sample.

[slick_mick]

Is it possible to get the guide via a digital download?

Mick

[shootemup]

And for the Dutchman in me: cost?

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by shootemup

And for the Dutchman in me: cost?

$45 CDN plus GST/PST/HST (if/as applicable, for Canadian buyers), plus $3.00 CDN mailing (Canada), $3.50 mailing (US).

[WJ Miller]

Where have all the Canadian collectors gone? Early hibernation?

I would have thought David's announcement would have garnered more attention and/or comment. Even a few howls of derision would be better than the sound of late summer crickets...

Strange that the most interest in this thread came from an Australian that has already sold off his CAC collection!? ( Hi Mick! )

David might not be breaking much new ground with his guide, but he is definitely adding insight & polish to what is arguably the largest area of interest within Canadian insignia collecting. So what is to cheer about?

• This is the first new cap badge compendium in decades.
• The first to be illustrated with detailed, all colour photography
• The first collected corrections to mistakes and oversights found in Mazeas. Plus additional detailed reference regarding insignia to military related volunteer and civilian services
• The first guide to publish a glossary of common terminology! (Why did we have to wait this long??)
• The first guide to discuss and illustrate common die varieties
• The first guide to publish prices based on real data

I think that last point should NOT be underestimated by the advanced collectors and dealers. This guide has tracked years worth of sales and while it gives you an accurate price point for any given badge. More importantly, it can be used as a census of which badges can currently be found on the market. You'll be able to ascertain for yourself which badges are truly scarce/rare in the marketplace, which badges are undervalued, which badges are overvalued... this is from real auction data. The tracked sales of what you and I have been paying over the years, not "pie in the sky" guesses.

I'm also confident that there is enough "new" stuff in this work to pique the interest of the most jaded old timer.

Digital format! Portable! At 500 pages, this would've been a massive tome, far too cumbersome to carry around to shops and shows. A convenient format whose time has come! Especially as we are looking to get more young people interested in the hobby. With the omnipresence of laptops, tablets and e-readers, I think this is the ideal format. It is also incredibly easy to use, cross referenced links allow you to navigate between items and the index instantly.

Overall, I think this is a very attractive package. Each badge listing also includes detailed regimental lineages, makers, varieties and other relevant notes, striking a nice balance of history and invaluable data. In a way, a combination of Tripp and Mazeas.

As mentioned it only covers cap badges of the 1920-52 era, (again, the most common area of interest), but it does so, exceedingly well. I think this new work will dovetail very nicely with the preceeding work by Mazeas and the upcoming detailed catalogue of Insignia by Brooker. Soltess' guide is our hobby's first professional attempt to quantify and describe what is happening, at least in part, within a broad and loosely associated group of collectors/dealers. The Soltess guide is perhaps a a little flashier and a little less esoteric than current references. In some sense I think this type of work promotes & "legitimizes" the hobby to outsiders, much like the other typical reference works you'll see for other hobbies.

If there is enough support and interest shown by our our collecting community, perhaps this will encourage Mr. Soltess to continue and expand upon his work in the coming years. I for one hope this happens.

But, perhaps "seeing is believing", the Soltess guide should be available next week...

Good job David.

[jim a]

Sign me up for a copy..... Jim

[marway_Jaime]

Excited to have gotten copies in today for re-sale, and I've already sold 1! I will be bringing these to Etobicoke this Saturday, and you can order them from the website as well.

[servicepub]

Originally Posted by marway_Jaime

Excited to have gotten copies in today for re-sale, and I've already sold 1! I will be bringing these to Etobicoke this Saturday, and you can order them from the website as well.

Picked up a copy today from Jaime and am looking forward to going through this.
Clive

[slick_mick]

Originally Posted by WJ Miller

Where have all the Canadian collectors gone? Early hibernation?

I would have thought David's announcement would have garnered more attention and/or comment. Even a few howls of derision would be better than the sound of late summer crickets...

Strange that the most interest in this thread came from an Australian that has already sold off his CAC collection!? ( Hi Mick! )

Good job David.

I still have quite a few CAC/RCAC badges

Mick

[barriefield-brian]

Anyone going to have these at the Ottawa show? Cheers Brian