Various British insignia- WWII?

[davejb]

The one to avoid, mainly because they are modern ,are called staybrights, the badge is normally lightweight and has a very shiney coating which is very noticable, brass badges and heavier metal ones are more likely to be period but then you have to think about restrikes, quite a lot of british badges have been replicated, they are not fakes as such, just not period, at one time here in the UK certain comics and magazines gave cap badges away or as a collectors board, these were replicas and made from very thin metal, some period badges had makers names, one of them was Gaunts of London i think

[StuG III]

I hear some Gaunt badges are also faked, maker mark and all.
And they say TR collecting is a minefield?
Tom

[davejb]

Yes thats true, the best bet is a nice brass or heavy metal badge without markings,some ww1 cap badges have JR Gaunts of London on them but you still have to be careful, i used to have a large collection of brass badges when i was a kid and never really took any notice of them as such, it was just a collection of as many i could get at that time, i think i had nearly all of the British Rgts , some Scottish, but gave them all away literally to my mates and younger kids, they were at least all original, now i wish i hadnt been so ruddy generous, the one i did keep is the Gordon Highlanders cap badge, that my uncle gave me, also an embroidered silk kerchief with the Gordons inscription on it, very nice

[stuka f]

Thanks guy's.
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[ObKrieger]

Is there a cap badge for the Coldstream Guards? I have been reading a lot about them lately and I think it would be cool to have one, should one exist.

[davejb]

Theres a cap badge for every British Regiment, im not sure now just how many rgts there are,try googling the guards regiments, it should come up

[jimpy]

Is there a cap badge for the Coldstream Guards? I have been reading a lot about them lately and I think it would be cool to have one, should one exist.

Mo

If you Google "Coldstream Guards" or "British Brigade of Guards", you will come up with loads of hits.
I dont know if you are aware, but there are FIVE regiments in the Guards Brigade, in order of seniority they are Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards.
Each regiment now only consists of a single battalion, however in the past there has been as many as 12 battalions in each regiment.
The Grenadiers are senior in the Brigade, but, and I hate to admit it, the Coldstreams are senior by age of formation. When all five regiments are on parade together, (very rare these days), the brigade forms as Grenadiers "right of the line" then Scots, Irish, Welsh with the Coldstreams at the extreme left. (This is part of the reason for their motto of "nulli secundus" or "second to none")

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[jimpy]

Theres a cap badge for every British Regiment, im not sure now just how many rgts there are,try googling the guards regiments, it should come up

Hi Dave

I havent got a clue how many regiments there are in the British Army at present Dave, but there are nowhere as many as when you and I were with the colours mate.
As you are aware, as I am, there has been amalgamation after amalgamation, regt's have been disbanded, histories lost except in the memories of the "old and the bold" or in regimental museums.
A classic case is my old division, Kings Div, based at Strensall Barracks in York. We used to have 4 regiments plus 3 TA Battalions, there is now only ONE, (The Yorkshire Regiment) plus the TA unit.
Another couple of cases in point are the Highland Div and the Parachute Brigade, all absolutely slaughtered under various recent "armed forces reviews", and its getting worse, the Royal Artillery is losing at least TWO regiments in the next 18 months> 2 years!

Anway, rant over for now.

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[davejb]

I wonder how many of the Queens divisions and Royal Guards Divisions get hammered in this carve up of our armed forces. I read somewhere that Army pilots who are being made redundant are being given £100,000 handshake,but navy pilots will receive nothing, dont get me started on the state of our armed forces, i dont want to be banned from the forum LOL

[oldlincolnian]

the best way to GUESS whether a badge is restruck is...if it looks too new to be period......and there are many out there that clearly do. Old badges oxidise and look flat in colour, not shiny. Some restrikes are made in "staybright" finish which is almost plasticy... genuinely 1950's onwards! Also, if you have a good nose, do the sniff test...old metal has a sharp old smell to it, while new metal doesn't....the way to understand that is to find a known oldie and a known newbie and compare..... you will know immediately, even blindfolded! (unless of course some kind soul has polished the badge recently... :-(
Also there are some ww1 badges in there... second in, second row from bottom is a 19th Hussars badge or collar and it looks as though the 2nd in on 3rd row down is same. Could be a matched pair of collars!