Alleged Scottish Para Beret - Correct Beret, Strange Tartan and Possible Fake Badge

[Reid10]

Hello,

I recently saw a British para beret offered for sale that had a tartan badge backing. (See images) I have been looking for a 15th (Scottish Volunteer) Parachute Battalion beret for a long time and understandably got excited. However, the tartan backing is government, not the Hunting Stewart the battalion used. Also, the badge has a King's Crown, which should not be on a beret this age and also it might be fake. The beret is gone, but I might seen another in the future with this tartan and wanted to make sure it is legitimate.

The beret itself seems to be genuine, using the J. Compton, Sons, & Webb label with the correct National Item Identification Number for the UK (99).

I searched several sites for 15 (SV) BN berets, to include its association page. All seemed to have the Hunting Stewart backing, though one from the 70s did not appear to have the sett, which could mean it was government tartan. I also looked for examples for the current A Company (Scottish) of 4th BN, Para RGT, but did not see anything there either. (The beret is too old anyway).

I would really appreciate help from the forum experts on whether this beret is genuine. I lean toward this being a legitimate beret that someone added a tartan backing to and fake badge.

Cheers,

Reid

[Watchdog]

Definately not a good combination. As you say the badge has an Imperial (kings) Crown but is a fake anyway. The beret is comparitively recent in that it has the NATO Stock Number (National Stock Number is the US precusor to the system) but is recognisable as being fairly early in that system as it has an imperial rather than metric size (7 rather than 58). We have members here who will ID the contract number I expect. The band is badly split at the rear too. Usually indicative of a small beret being forced onto a large head, not something I would expect to see in a serving soldier.

The tartan patch is very poorly attached and whilst not totally implausible I would prefer to see machine stiching as done by a unit tailor etc. As for the tartan itself I am not convinced it is Government Tartan ( No 42 as used by the Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders and The Black Watch - formerly the 42nd Foot hence the number) but as you correctly state, it is certainly not Hunting Stewart, it looks like it could be Douglas again not showing the white stripe of the Sett. For the unitiated the "sett" of the tartan, in the case of Hunting Stewart, a yellow stripe is always visible in a cap badge backing which is always cut in a prescribed manner for that reason.

Missing out on this one is I would suggest a good thing.

Regards

Mark

[Reid10]

Thank you, Mark. You have confirmed my suspicions and, as always, I appreciate your expertise. Definitely threw up a lot of red flags. I will hold out hope (albeit slim) for finding an authentic 15 Para beret to add to my collection someday.

Regards,

Reid