Lets see your British Army Dress/forage Caps and chat!!!

[BobS]

A lovely cap Bob, love the badge

Thanks much Jerry. Yes, the badge has a subtle elegance to it, and I like it very much.

[BobS]

Other ranks cap for the old 2nd Dragoon Guards ( Queen's Bays).
The moths had a good time on one side of the band, but it displays OK IMHO and the cap itself seems scarce to me.

BobS

[Jerry B]

Very nice; I've not seen that maker before.

BobS

And they made Berets

[tubist73]

I thought I'd add a quick overview of some of my British headdress items on display, hopefully including enough dress/forage caps to qualify for this thread! I try and only collect items from before 1945, so all of the guards caps and bearskins are of interwar or WW2 vintage.

I'll try and get round to adding some of these caps individually as well. If anyone would like to see details of a specific one, just ask. Sorry for the quality of the images but the lighting is not very bright (deliberately) where I display these items.

Matthew

[Jerry B]

individual shots of each, inside and out would be nice to see.

[tubist73]

Gladly, Jerry - I'll try adding some bit by bit over the next few days. First up is an unusual Royal Marines cap, pre-1952, without any plastic lining and with several early features like leather chinstrap, peak and lining. The white top is of the kind that needs blanco or whitening; it is currently quite old and dirty, almost tan in colour.

The strange thing is the Royal Artillery 'Ubique' badge on the front. It is permanently fixed on behind the crown stiffener, under the stitched lining, and there is no sign of any other badge ever being affixed, certainly not the typical RM badge with side lugs. Does anyone know why this badge would be on a RM cap like this? I can't find any information in my reference materials. My only guess would be related to the RM Artillery, but this cap doesn't look early enough for that......any ideas? Can anyone be more specific in dating this style of cap?

Matthew

[tubist73]

Here are a couple of the caps in more detail, this time other ranks' versions from the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards. Both are dated early WW2 and seem to be complete with their original badges (well-polished), buttons and chinstraps.

First up is the Grenadier Guards' cap from different angles. It is dated 1939 on the liner, made by J. Compton Sons. One puzzle is the W /|\ D stamp inside the sweatband, which has what looks like a letter 'X' rather than the usual 'R' for this date. Does anyone know why or have a similar example? The brass was this dull brown when I got the cap and I'm definitely leaving it as is, rather than polishing it up to the shine that would have been expected.

Matthew

[tubist73]

Here is the Coldstream Guards cap, this one faintly dated 1940 on the liner and a 'Q' stamp in the sweatband. It was made by Hobson & Sons. The brass on the badge is much brighter and more highly polished but the outer white band has several dirty marks on the front. I have to decide whether to add a little white blanco to cover these. Any thoughts?

Looking closely, it seems as if white blanco was also added to the white stripe around the crown - there are little crusty bits of white still stuck to the blue cloth. I bet this was hard to do without making a mess of the cap!

Matthew

[Jerry B]

three lovely caps and all with their own story, thanks for showing them in detail

[leigh kitchen]

Re. the RSG officer's forage cap shown on page 25, the worn badge removed from the cap (and replaced by one in better condition) was probably the original badge and correct as worn.

Officers of the regiment wore the silver and gilt badge with the breast of the eagle rubbed down smooth, obliterating the detail of the wreath and feathers.

If the original badge was worn smooth then replacing the badge with one in "good" condition may have destroyef the originality of the cap and will give a false impression of how the cap should appear.