Military cap badge collection

[kevjames84]

Is there anyone out there in forum land who could accurately value a large military cap badge collection?? Preferably in the Swansea or surrounding area. They belonged to an old gent whom I knew but he sadly passed away a few years ago and he left them to his brother, he now wants to sell them and I’d like to keep the collection together and so am interested in buying them. It would require a visit to the brothers home.

[jungle1810]

Hello Kevjames,
Firstly I would obtain a list of the regiments badges that are in this collection. Now for the hard bit, you can try and do a search on the web for current prices of the badges in this collection. A second option would be to take the list to a couple of shops that have sprung up that specialise in all forms of militaria and at the same time you will see many badges on sale and you can make a rough comparison of the price of any badges on display. But there is a caveat to look out for, many of these badges are worth a quite a bit. A smart shop keeper might try and sell you short. Caveat Emptor.Another factor to be taken into account is on the RWF badges from the end of the second Boer war 1902 until March 1920 had WELSH instead of WELCH . I am not really sure but I think the Welsh Regiment Changed the spelling of Welsh over a period of time. Also you may need to check any really old badges from the Crimean war. For example the Hussars had their badges taken off them by Queen Victoria and a cherry coloured strip was placed around the top of their head wear They earned the nick name "The Cherry pickers" because they were supposed to guard the flanks of the infantry in the Crimean war from the Russian Cavalry, but they stopped to pick cherries when on of horseback and the infantry marched well in front of the Hussars and the Russian
cavalry charged the infantry, and caused severe loss of life to the infantry. Another regiment who had their badge altered was the old R.A.S.C they were found to be guilty of sending the wrong size cannon balls to the Crimea.Queen Victoria decided to replace the cannon balls on their badge and the R.A,S.C were given quite large BALLS on their cap badge. So earlier badges in the British Army could command quite a fancy price.Some cases exist of regiments having plastic badges during the second world war, the RWF and Pioneer Corps were two of them.
Regards Don

[kevjames84]

Hi Don
Thanks for the information, I’m a medal collector myself (mainly Victorian Welsh infantry) so I have a little knowledge. The collection runs into the hundreds so I’ll have to do some research, but it looks like I might buy them (don’t know what the wife will say).

Thanks and regards
Kev

[Aled Roberts]

Hi Kev

Being a medal man myself my knowledge of badges is limited. A word of caution though, re-strikes are very common in the badge collecting world and worth a fraction of an original. So before parting with any hard earned cash, I would try and find someone who can validate them as originals.

Not much help I know, but every little helps.

Richard