2500 HUNDRED Canadian cap badges found- Urgent help!!!

[capbadge]

Hi all,


I have been offered 2500 cap badges and I don't know what to do - many of them are duplicates, here is the list. All of the badges were left in the dirt for some years and all of them need to be cleaned- the pictures provided are of cleaned badges, the others are white in appearance. I know 2500 badges and 300 buttons for over $2k is not a bad price, however I don't know if I could even break even or how I would trade so many of one type. Which ones if any are rare? All the badges have there lugs- the owner put some corroded ones in coke for 12 hours and when they came out they looked brand new!

Any help is grealty appriciated, pms or messages work great! I am doing the deal today or tommorow if all is well!



Royal rifles of Canada Cap Badges - 439
6th Royal Canadian Hussars Cap Badges - 531
Voltigeurs de Quebec Cap Badges - 164
Sherbrook Regiment Cap Badges - 339
Cape Breton Highlanders Cap Badges
With Middle - 2
Without Middle - 44
Seperate Middles - 11
South Alberts Reg. - 42 plus 8 middles
17th Duke of York Royal Canadian Hussars - 49
Prince Albert & Battleford Volunteers - 20
Canadian Infantry Cap Badges - 350
Highland Light Infantry - 22
Cape Breton Highlanders (larger crowns) - 16
The Essex Regiment (Tank Division) - 58
Forestry Corps Badges - 69
N.N.S. Highlanders 20


Lapel Pins:


R.C.I.C - 44
N.N.S. Highlanders - 16


Pins:


Royal Canadian Officers Gilt - 27
Royal Canadian Armored Corps. - 37
Royal Rifles of Canada - 23
The British Columbia Dragoons - 42
Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. - 27
8th? Crown over VIII - 22
Carlt York - 5

Thanks again!!!!!

[2747andy]

Cleaned up they are probably worth at least 10-15 times what you are paying for them, although they may take quite some time to sell?

Andy

[Phil2M]

Hi

Why were they buried? and why for so long?

Phil

[capbadge]

This is what I was told: The badges came from a WW2 Vet's estate- obviously he had access to military buildings or the facility that produced these, because he picked up so many of them at the same time. They were in buckets covered in mud under the porch.

Anyone know a good place to trade these? Any contacts? I really only need 30-40 badges and don't want to get stuck selling the rest for 500 years

[2747andy]

Ebay! You soon get your money back if you cleaned them and sold on at the right price!

Andy

[capbadge]

-I don't know if I would go with ebay for everything, I could destroy the market for certain badges!

What I need are some collectors/dealers that could redistribute a large amount of badges.

Which ones are good? Are the N.N.S. badges with silver middles any good, and are there any rares in there on the list or all basically common?

No matter what I do it will be a hell of a lot of work, so any suggestions are welcome!

[Bill A]

Surplus and obsolete badges were turned into RCOC stores, and then "destroyed". These badges were destroyed by being buried. At some point someone has recovered them. The badges will not completely clean up, as the acids and water in the soil has started to "rot" the metal. NO matter how much cleaning or polishing, the badges will show their past.
How much time will you have to put into cleaning each badge? You would have to factor that into the price. And how many will be scrap after cleaning? Finally, some of these badges are already in good supply, and if you list them, will you get enough to pay for them? The Volitguers is only a $6 - $8 badge in best of condition. C Infantry C is $10 badge, 6 DCRCH is a $12 badge in good condition. Royal Rifles $10.
In my opinion I would pass on the lot. They are not worth the trouble.

[SSTk]

I agree with Bill, it doesn't appear the time and expense to clean then sell them is worth the effort and return. This is almost more like a curiosity that might be better off in a museum somewhere. Maybe just buy a handful for your personal collection. It is still a very interesting find!

[DavidS]

You could do the world a big favour--buy them, crush them and sell the brass for scrap. There are already enough 'dug badge' dealers online, esp. from Nova Scotia.

[WJ Miller]

I agree with David, these are scrap brass only. No matter what you do (or what you've been told about the amazing restorative properties of Coca Cola) no amount of cleaning or treatment will ever make these badges look like "new". They'll always look like corroded, stained, "dug" badges. Not worth the effort, especially since they are mostly common and from your numbers, vastly overproduced badges.

The photo of the box of 6 DCRCH badges is just sad. Those aren't coming back to life. Gives new meaning the phrase, "common as dirt".

Still, an interesting find however, and great documentation to the existence of "dug" badges.

[2747andy]

Well to my eyes the cleaned up badges look pretty good! Better than repros... I would rather have a cleaned up original than a pristine "FAKE" anyday!

I just think it's a shame not to do something with them?

Andy

[Rob Miller]

I don't see them as scrap and I would be very happy to have some of them in my collection.

But I don't see this as a good deal either, by buying them you are just taking on someone elses problem. If no one buys them as a lot they will end up on the market in smaller batches or singly and you can buy what you want.

But thanks for showing them. Rob.

[detmold atc]

if you make them up into packs one of each badge and if you charge a reasonable price i would be keen to buy. dave

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by 2747andy

Well to my eyes the cleaned up badges look pretty good! Better than repros... I would rather have a cleaned up original than a pristine "FAKE" anyday!

I just think it's a shame not to do something with them?

Andy

Bill Miller's 'common as dirt' comment says it all. To put things in perspective, none of these, with the exception of the North Novas (once upon a time, before another huge stock of dug badges showed up) and the Cape Breton Highlanders badges are worth much more than coon spit. These are all $5-$12 badges on those rare 'if you can sell them' days. "Oooooh! 139 Regiment de Voltigeurs -- and hardly corroded or de-zincing at all!!! Hold me back!" Yup, you'll be raking in the profits once you figure out how to sell even 10% of those Royal Rifles or Voltigeurs badges. And as for a heap more Infantry Corps or ice-cream cone Forestry Corps badges, I think the copper content is definitely worth far more than the badges.

None of these badges are being reproed or faked, with the exception of the cheesy Carleton & York fake in "REAL BRASS" coming out of the U.K., and one other. Oddly enough, that badge is the Cape Breton Highlanders buckled annulus. And how is it faked, you ask? Well (he said knowingly), 'cause someone down East had a heap of badge bases for the non-buckled badge and some scrap overlays of the buckled annulus badges from a lot of discards just like this. Would you still feel better then, having paid $450 for a buckled annulus Cape Breton fake because it 'came from' -- technically correct, but... -- buried discards?

As far as I'm concerned, driving a cement roller over these would be 'doing something with them'

[capbadge]

This is exactly the problem I am facing- do I kick myself down the road for not paying less than a dollar each for badges that may be easy to fix and which I never see in massive quantities (which I could trade for/ or make some money on to buy more badges) ?

Do I kick myself for letting the dealers get them? (he has already had three emails asking about them, I know people always say that but I wouldn't be surprised)

I trust people on these forums since people have been very fair and honest, I just hope someone doesn't turn around after saying the badges are junk and buy them, not that I'm worried since people are great here


Thanks for all the help guys!