Border War Badges - a must have for the SA Badge collector

[natal01]

One of the major problems facing a badge collector in South Africa is that our badges often dont explain what they are. Often they show an emblem with not even a motto to help in its identification. Up until now the major reference work used to identify SA Badges has been Colin Owen's , " The Military Badges and Insignia of Southern Africa ". The copy that I have was published in 1990 and I have found that many badges from later days of the SADF were not there. For instance, very few of the various ( now defunct) Commando badges were shown.
Last week I received my copy of Border War Badges-A guide to Military & Police Badges 1964-1994 and was impressed. It is a hardback volume colour illustrating about 6000 badges, buttons, cloth patches, shoulder titles etc.
While it wont replace Owen's book entirely , it is a very welcome "Part 2", so to speak.
I hope that the binding is better than Owens book, which has fallen apart from overuse. I have no doubt this new book has some errors and the gate-keepers among us will point these out , but my first impression is that is well put together and will add a lot to Badge Collecting in South Africa. A bonus is that at R350 it is well priced.
Well done, Andrew !

[iaindh]

I do agree wholeheartedly that Owen's, whilst a very good book, with excellent cross referencing and so much more user friendly than the British bible, K & K, does sadly lack in other areas.
Again, the binding of Owen's; I've had my copy only 3 - 4 months but already it is breaking it's spine in places, and not from abuse.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Andrew's book which, from my dealings with Andrew, I'm sure will be thorough. I'm actually hoping Santa will drop a copy down the chimney!

Iain

[actionoke]

Got my copy ..great much needed book but there are incorrect and also missing badges for sure.But nevertheless a very good follow on to Owens as far as Border war badges go.Now we need one on webbing ,equipment and uniforms.

[Brian Conyngham]

Got to agree a very welcome addition and long overdue......however, there are a few gaps especially in the artillery field. Just wish that the badges could have been categorised into clearly defined sections ie Infantry, Artillery, Commando's etc

Well done Andrew

Regards
Brian

[The Good Dudes]

Well here we go with my first post on this forum.

I fully agree with all the above posts. I received a copy of P. Matthysen's "A Guide to South African Military Awards" recently. I noticed that a few auction houses have recently used Matthysen's work as reference material for their listings. Its interesting because his book is the best that I have seen in regards to medals, and it took a fair amount of time from the book being released to being used as reference in auction houses.
It would be interesting to hazard a guess as to when they will start to use Andrew's book as their main source of reference? As Mike said, his book is a brilliant reference guide. Once they start using it as reference, more people will buy it, because they will need to know what the item listed is that they are referring to.
My wild guess is that within a year we will see this book being used as the main source of reference with regard to badges of that era.

Well done on the book Andrew, you have my vote.

Jimmy

[Brian Conyngham]

Hi Jimmy

Nice to see you on here, have got to agree 100% with the point you have raised, up till now Owen has been the main source and will continue to be for mostly pre 1990 badges, with Andrew's long overdue addition it will become imperative to have "Border War Badges" in one's referance library.

Suspect we will be seeing some of your SAAF collection soon

Brian

[Alex Rice]

Hi All
I just got my copy of Andrew's book and have to agree that it is just what the collectors need. It looks like a great reference for the more modern badges.
Well done Andrew.
Cheers,
Alex

[7923BSAP]

Agreed, it a job well done; has helped me a lot with the identification of some of my Police badges from that era
Bill:

[iaindh]

Well, Santa did deliver my copy as hoped and I am very pleased; it's particuarly nice to see the badges in colour as opposed to Owen's black and white pics. "One (good) pic is worth a thousand words!!!"

Recommended.

Iain