KD Artillery Uniform with Bakelite insignia

[JHoll72]

Hey guys,
This KD uniform is interesting to me. I have never seen these plastic(bakelite) Canadian General Service buttons before. The are dated 1922 and were made in Kitchener. The collars are also bakelite and have a metal slider on the back. Is this a prewar uniform/insignia? Anyone seen this stuff before?

[NickG]

Are you sure about that date? Its my understanding that these buttons were a war time measure to conserve brass for munitions production. I have a wartime dated Canadian great coat with similar black buttons but larger.
The Brits did the same thing. Their economy buttons were green for general service and black for Rifle Regiments and Gurkhas. I guess for Canadian armed forces black resin was the standard color for such austerity pattern buttons considering your tunic is Artillery badged. I'm sure these were not too popular but did require less maintenance (no need to shine them up!).
I think they make such war time tunics more interesting! Australians also used black resin even for their buckles (yours is silver!) Nice piece!