Badge Belts or the "Hate Belt"

[GregN]

Hi all, in the old days I used to see many so called Hate Belts. I've always flelt that this term was offensive as in most cases these belts were composed of friendly forces insignia rather than those of the enemy. I choose to call belts with allied insignia Badge Belts and those with enemy insignia "Hate Belts". Both are extreamly rare now as the vast majority have been riped apart and each badge sold separatly.

To me, original belts are almost folk art in complexity an deserve to be treated with more respect that just a collection of badges to be harvested for thier individual value.

My belt was picked up in Penticton over 12 years ago. The seller called me up and said they had a nazi knife and belt for sale. I almost said no as Penicton was a bit of drive, I didn't collect nazi stuff and the seller maintained that Hitler himslef owned the stuff for sale. I decided to go anyway and was pleasently surpised at what was availabel for sale. I only wanted the belt but had to take Hitlers personal dagger as well. The price was steep as it was Hitlers personal side arm and the seller was a bit of a knob but I sucked it up and paid the outrageous price. I flipped the crappy SA dagger long ago but I loved the belt ever since.

I was tempted to sell the belt 5 years ago but the dealer (not wayne or Jamie) got out his calculator and started adding up individual badge values and then started asking for 50% discounts. (At that point I figured when he gave me a 50% discount I might give him a 50% discount). It broke my heart to know what would happen and I pulled it from my table.

Enjoy and please post any similar belts of either type. If anyone would like close ups of any badges feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Greg

[Bill A]

Fantastic piece Greg. Some scarce and desireable badges on the stable belt. As you say, most of these have been pulled apart for the individual badges, but they are artefacts in themselves. Knowing the history of the belt would be really interesting. Who was the collector? What unit did he belong to? How did he get the badges he chose to put on the belt? All of these are fascinating questions.

[guest_000]

that is a stunner your 187 interm is of particular interest to me thanks

PAUL

[boots and saddles]

One of the better ones I've seen , Maybe THE best. Ray

[jim a]

Greg...I see there are good pickups in B.C. also... terrific belt... glad to see you've kept it together... Jim

[GregN]

Hi all, thanks for the nice complements. When I was transfered to the Okanagan Valley I was pretty much the only Canadian militaria collector around. I was fortunate to travel for work all over the province so was able to set up an extensive "trap line". I picked up some truely wonderful items that I wish I had kept but diapers and a new home demanded that I pass many item on to other collectors. I guess my greatest finds were a raised date QSA for $12.00 and a MC and pair for 125.00! Great groups which went to great homes but oh to have then now

Cheers,

Greg

[guest_000]

here is one of my better ones

[GregN]

Beautiful!

Greg

[jim a]

Paul... another great belt... it's a dream for me to pickup something as wonderful as you and Greg have... I imagine an awful lot of these belts have been broken up and they are hard to find.... thanks for showing.... Jim

[Bwetdude]

Here's my "hate" belt.... some South Africa stuff... nothing Canadian I believe.

It's missing one badge and one button....

Don't know about the buckle... it has numbers on it... ???

Got it from Ebay...for cheap. On Xmas time... I think... when nobody's there to buy.

Sorry for the blurry pics... ?!?!?!

It goes from the buckle to the end... pic above pic below... (6 attachements limitation)

[Adam H]

Fantastic belt, Greg. These are always lovely to see.