Royal Warwickshire. 1st-3rd Birmingham (Pals) Btns. Badges

[Keith Blakeman]

I picked up three badges today of the Royal Warwickshire 1st-3rd Pals Btns which are of a different construction to those which appear most often on ebay.

The three today have the Royal Warwickshire scroll as an overlay although the lettering is not visible from the rear. The remainder of the upper section badge is hollow die stamped. However the lower scrolls 1st Birmingham Battalion, etc are attached, die stamped with the lettering visible from behind.

The more common examples, more often than not with a Gaunt slider have both the bottom scrolls as one piece and attached.

Obviously to pick up three rare badges in one place (amongst a few others) can be either down to good luck or be suspicious. All show the same amount of wear (hardly any) and have strong heavy sliders and pointed tips although the one to the "2nd looks to have been refixed at some time slightly lower than its original fixing point.

I remember seeing a thread featuring this badge, maybe someone can help me trace it or better still should anyone have genuine examples post them for comparison. I'll be able to scan mine on Monday and post them then.

Many Thanks
Keith

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Keith, I don't think I have welcomed you to the forum yet
I would be very wary about these badges too. There are just too many appearing at shows and on E Bay. I look forwards to seeing your scans.

Here is the thread I think you refered to?
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=62061

(Have you tried the search feature on the forum yet? It is very useful. Just type in the word/s you are after )

Cheers, Ade.

[andya]

Pals badges

Hi Keith & Ade
Here are my badges from the Birmingham Pals. I never have been 100% about there originality and would appreciate all comments and other pics. The badges were not purchased together and all are from different sources.
Regards
Andy

[andya]

rear of badge 1

rear of badge 1

[andya]

badge 2

badge 2

[andya]

rear badge 2

rear badge 2

[andya]

badge 3

badge 3

[andya]

rear badge 3

rear badge 3

[Keith Blakeman]

Hello Ade,

Thanks for the kind welcome and information I required. the forum has already been a hive of information and look forward to viewing others and showing my own collection in the future. May I also take the opportunity to thank Jim Maclean for the welcome also on Andy19's L & Y posting.

Andy,
Thanks for posting your three Pals badges, uncanilly these are all as my existing ones even down to the 2nd & 3rd being Gaunt branded and the 1st not. You've saved me time scanning mine! All mine came from ebay, the 2nd & 3rd coming from ebay via an Australian seller, the other I can't remember the source. I think you'll be interested when i post the new ones tomorrow.

Regards,
Keith

[Keith Blakeman]

All,

<O></O>

Here is the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1st Birmingham Btn. 'Pals' badge as posted on Saturday. I won’t bother to show the other type as Andy has kindly posted his and there is hardly any difference between ours as I have already noted. All I would like to point with the one piece scroll badge is that the antelope/gazelle/deer or whatever is constructed the same as a regulars badge and with the one-piece double scroll attached to the base/ground. It would appear that the1st is differently manufactured than the 2<SUP>nd</SUP> & 3<SUP>rd</SUP> as the lettering is flatter and wider. I don’t like these badges and have never rated them as anything other than gap-fillers.

<O</OOnto the new ones. (For the time being I'm only going to show the 1st unless specifically requested to show the other two, as there hardly any noticably differences between them. I'll talk in the plural though.) They are beautifully stamped with fine detail and little polishing although the lettering to the bottom scroll is prouder and may be down to the fact it sits recessed and less prone to polishing. There is more of a patina to these areas too. The upper scrolls are overlays and the bottom ones attached as can be seen on the view of the rear. All are heavy, have extremely strong sliders and no parts of the badge; even the scroll ends will bend without force. From experience I know of other ‘scroll’ badges where the lettering is visible from the rear even on bi-metal overlaid ones whereas these are smooth backed. There are no sweat holes, which is a concern. Obviously the easiest thing for a forger to do would be to attach a bottom scroll onto the regulars’ badge, but in the case of this regiment the scroll on theirs is different, for on the ‘Pals’ badges it folds back rather than extends so someone has gone to a lot of trouble if these are fakes, unless of course the ‘Pals’ badges did look like this and the old dies have been used.

Thank You

Keith

[Keith Blakeman]

And the rear: