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#1
16-09-13, 12:28 PM
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Anecdotes of Finds, Bargains,etc
Hi all,
I thought it would be of some interest for members to share past forays into how certain items came into their collection. I am sure there must be countless interesting anecdotes, including the notorious "one that got away" or "if I had only known". I will start the ball rolling with two excerpts. 1. In the early 70s I recall buying the 2 Blandford Uniform books, and I was very much taken with the illustration of the uniform and shako of the Royal Dockyard Battalion, more so with the tiny illustration of the shako plate. Before this I was unaware of the existence of this unit. Some time later I was travelling on a bus and from where I was sitting I noticed what looked like an identical shako plate attached to the internal engine cowling. The bus arrived at the terminus, I waited till all passengers got off, verified I wasn't seeing things and negotiated with the driver for the plate. It was an officers gilt with silver anchor. I got it for 2 pounds and the pleased driver even threw in a helmet plate he had lying about in the dashboard. 2. Years later at a local village house auction I noticed an elaborate key holder hanging on a wall. A closer view showed an old mahogany plaque with another officers RDB shako plate bolted to the plaque. Instead of the central anchor device there was one of the large chinchain lions head bosses; the other lionshead (with chinchain hook) was attached to the plaque beneath the shako plate, ostensibly for hanging a key. No one bid for it and I acquired it at a ridiculously low price. Someone else's turn GTB 
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#2
16-09-13, 02:35 PM
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Not as exciting but I used to frequent the Islington Arcade and one Saturday I wondered around the various (expensive) dealers' tables in the basement without finding anything worthwhile. Upon climbing the stairs there was outside a general bric a bric area of stalls which I spend a few spare minutes looking around.
On such one table amongst a host of dolls, jewellry and nick-nacks I spied a Black Watch badge which had a pin soldered on to the lugs and was pinned onto some ribbon. £10 was the asking price which I paid at once as it was the 1908-15 TF version without the sphinx. Worth ten times that and a very hard badge to find. It amused me to think how many dealers were only a few metres away and they had all missed it. On a similir note there is a bookseller in Marlborough who occassionally had badges in his window - some genuine and some repro. In the window he had a khaki cap with a Middlesex badge on it unpriced. Only for display and not for sale. A few weeks later he had swopped the Middlesex badge for a more imposing one and the Middlesex badge was on the cardboard with £8 against it. Blank scroll and thus the 10th bn's badge.
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#3
16-09-13, 03:01 PM
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Thanks Alan. One really has to be at the right place at the right time.
Another quickie from me: Gloucester, 1968. A few badges lay in a saucer in a pawnshop window but I was unable to see what they actually were. I used to pause to have a look but never got round to go in and buy them. Then one day I did go in and asked the shopkeeper how much he wanted for the badges in the window. There were 4. He told me 1/6d and I bought them. All WW1 items: Australian Commonwealth Mil Forces, brass collar badge; Canada GS, bz cb; Gloucestershire Regt, cb; RFC pilot's gilt wings brooch. GTB
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#4
16-09-13, 03:45 PM
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Two from me...
I started my buying from a stall in the local market in the Midlands who made his main living selling reproduction horse brasses and copper pots, which were in vogue. He thought himself quite a dealer in badges and medals - but was not much more than a dabbler (he got some amazing stuff - particularly in medals - where he didn't have a clue what he had). He tipped out a bag of cap badges which he said I could have for 75p each (this was in the late 70s). I'm sifting through and most are repro rubbish, but I put aside a 25th Dragoons 'Indian cast'. At this point, another dealer arrives - who still trades, so no names - shoulder barges me aside and starts waving his pudgy fingers (complete with big, lit cigar) through the badges. "Oh, they're only Indian repro c**p, X", says my contact. He shrugs, grunts and blows cigar smoke in my face. (I was only in my teens, so I didn't deck him). Except his fingers have turned one badge over and I notice... 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. Bimetal. And it's real. So I whip it, stick a couple of other badges on top in case he looks back... I gave up on the seller when I started doing medal research for him (when this meant hours in the library). He had a group of campaign medals from WW1 to the 50s - with ranks ranging on the named medals from Captain to Group Captain. I tell him there are some things missing... like a KCB and a KBE... Ended his days an Air Chief Marshal. Hearing the word 'missing' he grunts that he will break them up and sell the separately...  Ten years later I bought a swagger stick from a local charity shop, thinking it ordinary Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Except it said that in the circlet around the Bobby.. around the edge of the domed top it said... 1st BIRMINGHAM BATTN. Why that was in an Oxfam shop in London, I know not... £2.50..
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#5
16-09-13, 05:38 PM
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Bedford bargain . . !
Some years ago I made my usual pilgrimage to the Bedford arms fair which was then held in the Greyfriars area of Bedford. For some reason or other I was late and did not arrive until 11.30, bearing in mind the hall was crowded with many badge collectors I was pleasantly surprised to see on a general militaria dealers stall quite prominent a reverse metals York and Lancs Regt cap badge.
When I asked how much, the dealer who I vaguely knew said "have you got any RAF cap badges?" I had two with me and he offered to do an exchange which I gratefully excepted. Why this badge had been overlooked by all and sundry still is beyond me. Rob
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#6
29-09-13, 01:16 PM
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Ok, here are few of my bargains....
Long story short - how much cost me this Royal Irish Regiment early officer's glengarry badge.....   ...... I hope I didn't overpaid  Does €10 sounds like a fair price? 
__________________
I am always looking early (pre 1939) British ribbon bars with foreign awards; interesting devices or just different construction solutions. Also I am seeking Royal Dublin Fusiliers items. I can help in small scale to research RDF soldiers (MICs, medal rolls, additional information, etc).
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#7
29-09-13, 06:20 PM
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Anecdotes of Finds, Bargains,etc
First of a few.
Worked on a house in france, found the window frame and ledge was held in place by..................three ww1 lee enfield rifles,.........and fence was made of...................biplane wing spars wired together. Went to quote to change a water tank in a local loft moved loft hatch.............and thought I was looking at the underside of a german spiked helmet, but noooooooooooooooooooooo........................... ....... other ranks KINGS OWN NORFOLK YEOMARY helmet 
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#8
10-11-13, 02:36 PM
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Me again!
About half a lifetime ago a mate of mine who worked at the Dockyard asked me to accompany him to a workmate's home as he wanted to barter some items and I would be interested. It turned out that his mate had stumbled upon an old hidden store of sorts within the Dockyard. So that Sunday afternoon we paid him a visit and when he opened a cupboard, I could see it jammed full of naval bicorns and their tin cases; most of the bicorns still had their bullion tassels. To cut a long story short, he was looking for old keys in exchange. I had none available at the time but managed to obtain a bicorn "on credit" - for which I eventually gave him a doorkey! As it so happened, I missed out on the tasselled ones and a case but got a consolation prize of a brass nameplate for the latter. GTB
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#9
10-11-13, 02:41 PM
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