Newbie Badge Questions

[BruceG]

Greetings,

My grandfather was in the CEF 46th and although I have his military medals I was interested in obtaining some badges from his unit. My first question is what is the difference between a hat badge and collar badge? I've seen both kinds listed on Ebay an they seem to be about the same.

Secondly, how do you spot a fake? I see where the backs of some badges have an impression from the front but others do not. I went ahead and bought 1 "collar" badge and on the back of that it has "service supply" Rochester. Is that Rochester as in Alberta Canada or someplace else? My grandfather was living in Regina Saskatchewan when he signed up. Hopefully the badge I have is genuine but I'd like to get a set and don't want to make any more purchases until I'm better informed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike B]

Hello Bruce

Welcome to the Forum.

Good luck with your search.

I do NOT know a great deal about Canadian badges and you will see there is a specialist Canadian section to this Forum. Many members are experts in CEF which is a big subject in itself.

FOR BRITISH UNITS
Sometimes Collar badges can be the same as Cap badges but can have different fastenings at the reverse (not sure if this applies to Canadian badges of the period you are looking for) Certainly during WW1 most British headdress badges had a slider on the back (bent strip of metal to hold the badge into headdress) Collar badges generally have lugs (round loops through which a split pin was pushed). With British Regiments the collar badge was generally smaller and of a different design to the cap badge. Officers had bronze cap badges with 'blades' to the reverse (metal prongs to the East and West of the reverse of the badge). There are other variations. I am not sure if this guidance applies equally to Canadian badges as I think Canadian headdress badges often had lugs rather than sliders.

Members have illustrated the reverse of badges in Forum Albums and there are 'threads' on various aspects.

I have not seen British badges with the inscription you mention on the reverse.

This is really just a 'welcome' message - you could do with a collector of Canadian badges responding. They would be more specific in what to look for and the patterns of Cap and Collar badges you seek.

See the links here - the top two are links to this Forum I believe

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/can.../cef_index.htm

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/can...ce/cef_e46.htm

Research Group here:

http://cefresearch.ca/matrix/Army%20...0Battalion.htm

Lugged badge by Dingwall, Winnipeg - reverse below

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=46...tm%3B574%3B600

Regards and good luck - I hope this crude outline is of some help.

Mike

[BruceG]

Thanks Mike,

I will certainly check out the links you provided. I was looking at a photo of my grandmother's brother who was also in the CEF and the badge on his hat looks a bit larger than the ones on his collar so that might be the only difference. Unfortunately I can't get enough detail from that photo to determine in which battalion he served even though it might be the same as my grandfather - his future brother-in-law. It also occurs to me that many badges could have been lost while on the field and replaced with later versions . In any case it seems I need to do a bit more research before making any other purchases.

Thanks,
Bruce