SASR Beret ? - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

swende · #1 07-03-10, 12:30 PM

Hi I was sold this as a Rhodesian SAS beret but believe it may be Australian , as far as i now know Rhodesian s never wore metal badges ? Would appreciate any thoughts ...

Flatdog · #2 08-03-10, 04:19 AM

Hi Swende,

What does the interior of the beret look like? You have to pull the badge and see the reverse, lugs or pins, aluminium or base metal. From the pic presented, it looks like a British beret with an Aussie badge.

The Rhodesian SAS did in fact wear the metal version early on, but primarily wore cloth badges.

Cheers,
Flatdog

swende · #3 08-03-10, 10:48 AM

Thank you .. will post some pics of interior ... I know Rhodesians did have black backing ....

swende · #4 08-03-10, 03:13 PM

Thank you .. will post some pics of interior ... I know Rhodesians did have black backing ....

swende · #5 08-03-10, 03:17 PM

here are some pics of the beret itself, the interior has been torn out which is quiet common with Rhodesian berets.. and the badge is a slider with JR Gaunt , but feels very light to me ...

Kind regards

Flatdog · #6 08-03-10, 10:59 PM

Swende,

It appears you have a Compton Webb beret, British from the late 70's to 80's.

The badge British. RhoSAS only wore in the very early days the slider type, however these were of brass, and sometimes guilt. The real metal as worn by other ranks were anodised aluminium with lugs. The specification for the cloth backing should always be of "Midnight Blue " colour. Most say black because the colour is so dark. Quite a few tailors get that wrong too!

It may be safe to assume the beret was a private purchase by an Aussie.

Flatdog

sailorbear · #7 12-03-10, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swende

Hi I was sold this as a Rhodesian SAS beret but believe it may be Australian , as far as i now know Rhodesian s never wore metal badges ? Would appreciate any thoughts ...

Hi there, The Rhodesian SAS did wear metal cap badges! including one on a light blue shield (pic below) I'm no expert but if you check out the following link there are some good examples!

http://www.rhodesianmilitaria.com/in...otherrankinsig

Hope this is of interest!

Regards Tony

swende · #8 12-03-10, 04:12 PM

Thanks Tony

I have seen pics of these light blue ones but never in real life or being worn ... Would love to get my hands on one !

all bests

Unknownsoldier · #9 12-03-10, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swende

here are some pics of the beret itself, the interior has been torn out which is quiet common with Rhodesian berets.. and the badge is a slider with JR Gaunt , but feels very light to me ...

Kind regards

I have the identical Black backing and a Non-marked SAS badge that is surprisingly good quality in you hand.... but it's slidered, nothing like the SASR set I have. Maybe another early SASR?

Tom

swende · #10 13-03-10, 04:39 AM

It would be interesting to know if the JR Gaunt badge is made for SASR or if its one of the British 1950 - 1960 s slider ones ?
Does anyone know ?

platypus44 · #11 14-03-10, 07:53 PM

Aussie wore those Gaunt badges right through until early 90s [ when we Aussies adopted our own hat badge]

i have loads of nice Vietnam era berets with them on,

i too believe it maybe a UK Beret
guys wear them and were sold in shop on base, This does not authenticate the whole beret mind you.

at present they run 2 Verets in that shop PLATATAC[ Yay most popular, unlined bashable beret] and Herbert Johnston lined Bespoke Officers Bereyt [ made for us by Herbie J, we actually get UK members buying them as we are the only mob who hold stock. We also supply the Hat Badge [ stamped PLATATAC.COM , also make the 1 and 2 CDO ones]

On hat badges even on recent trips i have seen these Gaunt and other Brit minted type badges including the Bronze WW2 type ones, right throught the 80s, 90, 00s, guys like to be individual, i used to bring heaps in from Nic Morigi and guys would but them up.

Unknownsoldier · #12 21-03-10, 09:40 PM

Heres my backgrounded one; I thought the shield would be one piece but it's two stiched together, felt and a black cotton like material.....

rhodesianmilitaria · #13 20-05-10, 10:29 AM

Hi Swende,

Regarding Rhodesian SAS berets badges.

1) Metal beret badges with sliders were NEVER worn by the RhSAS. It is a myth.
Many years ago someone was taking SAS beret badges with sliders and stamping 'Reuteler Mfg Rhod.' on the reverse of the sliders. This person was selling them particularly on ebay as genuine and when asked where he got them from he stated that he had bought them directly from Reuteler. Knowing this to be false I had a friend ask Werner Reuteler about the metal SAS badges. He stated categorically that SAS badges were never made that had sliders on the reverse. 'C' (Rhodesia) Squadron 22 SAS (Malayan Scouts) wore British supplied cloth SAS beret badges from 1951-53.

2) When 'C' (Rhodesia) Squadron 22 SAS was reformed in 1961 they wore Rhodesian made anodised aluminium silver and gilt beret and collar badges. The beret badge was worn on a pale blue background. Officer's wore a bi-metal silver and gilt beret badge.
After UDI in November 1965 this tradition continued sometime until sometime after 1971 this was changed. The beret badge was bullion for officers and cloth for OR's. Officer's wore bi-metal collar badges that were painted gold and silver with silver plating on the reverse. (in fact there is a pair of these for sale on the forum at the moment). The OR's wore the anodised aluminium silver and gilt collar badges.

Information and photos can be found here:
http://www.rhodesianmilitaria.com/index.php?page=sas