Canadian Provost Corps

[John Cameron]

Below are some scans of wartime C Pro C bronze officer's badges. The cap badge at first glance resembles the OR's pattern, but is clearly an officer pattern and is stamped GAUNT on the reverse. The existance of left and right facing collar badges were controversial for a long time, notwithstanding the existance of photographs of them in wear, and a very few (two) right faced collars. A former member of the Provost Corps and a very advanced collector stated that he was aware of only 12 pairs, specially made for officers of No.2 Provost Company in 1942. A letter has recently come to light from Canadian Military Headquarters to Gaunt dated October 1941 asking for a quote on 40 - 50 pairs of officer's collars. Gaunt replied in November with the quote, and stating that three dies would have to be made: ie: one for the cap badge and two for the collars. This would tend to indicate that at least 40 pairs were contracted for. In almost 40 years of collecting I had only ever seen or heard of 2 examples of the right faced collar. Two years ago, my luck changed.
The illustrated collars are cast, the backs are rather crudely finished and no hallmarks are visible. From a few other examples in my collection, and in a fellow collector's posession it appears that the same dies were used for all. The illustrated cap and collar badges have an impeccable provinance, they were acquired from a former Provost officer, the collars were still on his Service Dress uniform, the cap badge still on his beret. Which is where they were returned to after photography.