50 Shades of Golden Yellow

[vonleonhausen]

Hello Gentlemen,

I recently purchased two pairs of, so called, cavalry/recon officer collar tabs (mine are the two first, the last pair is there to illustrate my question).

It is quite difficult to see on the pictures, but the three colours of the golden yellow collard tabs are different. I know there seem to be a bit of wear and the circumstances in which the tabs were kept during the past 70 years influences the shades they have now, but it seems the basic colour was a bit different. The bevo ones (from weitze) even look a bit orange and are still described as Kavallerie/Aufklärungs collars tabs.

Why was that? Why did the golden yellow waffenfarbe differ from collar tab to collar tab (or shoulder board, the question is relevant for them too!) and how can we nowadays make a difference between golden yellow, lemon yellow and orange?

How can we be sure the tabs we buy are REALLY cavalry/reconnaissance collar tabs? And not faded gendarmerie of dusty signals collar tabs/shoulder boards.

I think this could be interesting for starting cavalry/recon collectors, so they're sure they purchase the things they really want!

Thanks in advance !

Greetings,

vonleonhausen

[Johnny R]

Some of the differences are period manufacture but mostly, the dyes oxidize and age differently and also the items themselves have been exposed to different conditions and environments. The braid also oxidizes and ages like your darker yellow example where the yellow is flaking off and is almost brown.

You see this also with tunics etc. especially later War items. Sometimes the sleeves can be a very different color than the body of a tunic.

The dyes used towards the end of the war were coal based and have changed color overtime.

The Emedals example you posted is on the fence with signals. Based on the single image I would saw it is closer to lemon yellow, it also is oxidizing and changes the color a bit.

[pedroMM]

I agree with JohnnyR here.
Also sun exposure when taking the picture can be a fact which matters. I have had Cav. Tunics that in hand had an obvious golden yellow waffenfarbe but in the pictures appeared to be lemon yellow.

A way I think is useful when looking for a cav tab is to compare it side by side with a signals one,which are usually clearer to identify. That gives you an idea about how golden is a yellow, as it is quite difficult to tag a colour without an scale