C.M.H.Q. - W.W.2 - CIVILIAN BADGE

[QSAMIKE]

Good Afternoon Everyone.....

I found another Canadian Military Headquarters badge on our favorite auction site..... That makes 5 (3 in my collection and 2 in other collections) out of a total of 15 badges manufactured.....

This is the first one that I had seen for sale in over 20 years and was lucky to obtain it.....

Mike

[Doug N]

Mike,

What does the back look like? How did you determine the production total?

Thanks,
Doug

[QSAMIKE]

Hi Doug......

The reverse is a straight pin and the marking Sterling Silver......

How did I determine the production..... Well my Mother (Who's pin is on the left) was transferred from Canada House (the Canadian Embassy on Trafalgar Square in London) where she was a senior clerk, to The Canadian Military Headquarters in Acton when the war broke out..... She took 6 female staff from the embassy to work there and hired 8 more to do the clerical work for the officers and general office duties..... To be able to identify the workers from the general public she was ordered to have the badges made so they could wear them on their civilian clothes..... There was a coloured ribbon or patch attached to identify their area of work..... They carried on their clerical duties until the C.W.A.C. was formed came to England and took over their duties but my mother stayed there till she met my father, and married (then came me)..... Now to answer your question I have seen the receipt for the purchase of the badges and a group photo of several of the women wearing the badge......

Many years ago there was a convention of the M.C.C. of C. here in Calgary..... My Mother and my Aunt (I called her my aunt as she worked with Mum at C.M.H.Q. and was a fellow warbride) were looking at a badge display and she was overheard to say to my Mum, "Look there is one of our badges"...... With the owner of the collection present they told him a number of stories about C.M.H.Q. that my Mum had not even told me..... I got her to tell me the stories and show me the picture and reciept.....

Mike

[Bill A]

There are far more than15 of the civilian CMHQ badges around. Most of them marked sterling.

[QSAMIKE]

Originally Posted by Bill A

There are far more than15 of the civilian CMHQ badges around. Most of them marked sterling.

Maybe this was one batch or an early batch that was made......

Mike

[altcar73]

The manufacturers of insignia invariably make many more badges of a specific design than those ordered by organisations. Because you see an invoice for 15 badges, simply means that 15 badges were supplied in respect of that one order. Even if there was only one order placed, the likelihood is that there were many more made at the time that order was placed. These would have been retained by the manufacturers (sometimes for many years), before being sold off, or released to other persons and thereby appearing in various locations.

So, it may be satisfying to be able to say that you know (or not) the location of those 15 badges, without doubt there will be many more out there somewhere.

Having collected insignia myself since the 1960's, I can say that some badges are often not as "rare" as they may at first be thought to be.

Dave.