British & commonwealth tunic collection

[stuka f]

Love your collection,Jerry!
cheers
|<ris

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Jerry,

Second attempt at post of ‘zipper BD’ below.

Thanks for clarifying what you meant by the altered collar points with badges. These were not always applied to the everyday field wear BD, especially in the lower ranks. The best ‘walking out’ BD was another matter as these were often custom tailored with opened collars, extra pleats, shoulder pads, added box pleats to pockets, etc. I recall reading about a BD with a full silk lining added. And had I not seen a period photo I may have doubted the existence of the zippered BD!

The plastic insignia story starts when some soldiers of the Polish 2nd Corps came across a harmonica factory located in an Italian town they were involved in liberating. (I’ve yet to find more information about exactly where this factory was located) Here a stock of the celluloid used in harmonica production is discovered. One of the resourceful Poles sees the plastic as useful for making uniform insignia, always in short supply for the Poles. The plastic was elaborately crafted into insignia, badges, ribbon bars and even cigarette cases. These items are now very sought after by collectors.

Regards,
Tony

[Adrian Stevenson]

Apologies if you have seen this before, but here is one of the cigarette cases which Tony mentioned. From my collection.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jerry B]

Apologies if you have seen this before, but here is one of the cigarette cases which Tony mentioned. From my collection.

Cheers, Ade.

What an amazing item, something different in a collection.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Super piece Ade. Always a pleasure to see it again.

To briefly carry on with the topic . . . Sorry if I’ve posted this elsewhere on the forum, here’s a beautifully crafted item that I was fortunate to acquire some years back. You’ll see the some of these insignia in miniature on Ade’s cigarette case.

Made at the time that these plastic pieces were produced, I suspect it may have served as a presentation piece to a dignitary. It’s the only such item I’ve seen. Anyway, it consists of a lacquered wood shield-shaped back board onto which the various unit insignias were applied. These are the actual full size insignia intended for uniform application. Several of these I have yet to ever encounter on the market by themselves. In fact, prior to first seeing this shield I never knew that these had been produced in plastic.

Starting at the 12 o’clock position going clockwise:

- Polish Army eagle
- 5th Kresowa Infantry Division
- Polish 2nd Corps (Mermaid of Warsaw)
- 6th City of Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine) Infantry Brigade
- 2md Warsaw Armoured Division
- 7th Infantry Division
- Polish Army in the Near East
- 3rd Carpathian Rifles Division
- (center) British 8th Army Shield (awarded to the Poles following their taking of the abbey atop Monte Cassino in May 1944)

The text reads: Polish Army Italy 1944

Cheers,
Tony

[Jerry B]

Super piece Ade. Always a pleasure to see it again.

To briefly carry on with the topic . . . Sorry if I’ve posted this elsewhere on the forum, here’s a beautifully crafted item that I was fortunate to acquire some years back. You’ll see the some of these insignia in miniature on Ade’s cigarette case.

Made at the time that these plastic pieces were produced, I suspect it may have served as a presentation piece to a dignitary. It’s the only such item I’ve seen. Anyway, it consists of a lacquered wood shield-shaped back board onto which the various unit insignias were applied. These are the actual full size insignia intended for uniform application. Several of these I have yet to ever encounter on the market by themselves. In fact, prior to first seeing this shield I never knew that these had been produced in plastic.

Starting at the 12 o’clock position going clockwise:

- Polish Army eagle
- 5th Kresowa Infantry Division
- Polish 2nd Corps (Mermaid of Warsaw)
- 6th City of Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine) Infantry Brigade
- 2md Warsaw Armoured Division
- 7th Infantry Division
- Polish Army in the Near East
- 3rd Carpathian Rifles Division
- (center) British 8th Army Shield (awarded to the Poles following their taking of the abbey atop Monte Cassino in May 1944)

The text reads: Polish Army Italy 1944

Cheers,
Tony

Very nice Tony, thanks for posting this item and the history associated with it.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Thanks Jerry. It’s always been on of my favorite pieces.

Maybe we should now steer the discussion back over to your fine BD collection . . .

Cheers,
Tony

[Jerry B]

As it seems to be the way to do it, here is my wall O tunics!

[Jerry B]

Picked up another BD recently, February 1945 dated and of Canadian manufacture. Appears to have it's original insignia, Royal Army Medical Corps shoulder flashes and London District formation patches, either late war or more likely early post war applied and used. It also had a unused pair of warden flashes in the pockets.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Great looking BD Jerry I have a soft spot for Canadian made BD’s Who's the maker?

Cheers,
Tony