TOPIC:

The frequency with which these rare badges turn up amazes me. It’s reminiscent of Matisse, who painted 400 canvasses, 900 of which are in America…

There’s another one for sale at The Warstore in Joburg…

Here are four ZAR hat badges from the same dealer in Johannesburg. I can't emphasise how rare this badge should be. I grew up in SA and collected badges for years - I never, ever saw a ZAR or an OVS hat badge in SA during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s. To see four for sale in the same place raises questions. I am no expert but I don't think these are genuine. Badge number 2 looks somewhat better than the others...At $250 each there is plenty of incentive for fakers.
What do others think?

Rob,

Most of these look good to me. As a collector in the UK these did turn up in the 1970s and 80s, perhaps due to the fact that so many were brought home by combatants and early battlefield tourists. The internet, and especially eBay and BobShop, have made what were once exceedingly scarce items much less so. For instance, engraved watches were as rare as hen's teeth back in the 1980s, but now turn up reasonably frequently. These are nigh impossible to fake convincingly. Sheet brass badges to Colonial units, on the other hand, are, in my opinion, almost invariably "wrong", yet still command staggering prices at auction.

I will be very surprised if the above badges sell at those prices.

I have posted this photograph before, but it is interesting in that it shows a single man's haul after a rummage through Pretoria Barracks. It includes twenty-one ZAR badges. Some Boer insignia came back in such quantaties that workshops were able to incorporate them into souvenirs. For example, I have seen several "Pom-pom" sugar basins with ZARP bridle rosettes as bases, which must have been produced in large numbers.







The original inventory for the above display, written in 1900 (items in blue taken from Pretoria Barracks)

Inventory of Curios from the South African Campaign of 1899-190 [final digit left blank]

Queen’s Chocolate Box with Choc.

Boer Artillery Busby (? O.F.S.) [Z.A.R., not O.V.S.]
2 Field Service Caps of the Boer Art’y.
Boer Artillery Sabretache & belt
2 Pairs Spurs
1 Boer Pony’s bit (Galvanized Iron)
1 Boer Shoulder Belt & Pouch worn
1 Boer Shoulder Belt & Pouch quite new, un-adjusted
[illegible] Clips Mauser (Bullets) Ammunition
[illegible] Maxim Bullets (in case) unfired
4 Maxim Bullets (fired) without case
1 Mauser Bullet (in case, unfired)
4 Mauser Bullets (fired, without case)
2 Plumes of Staats Art’y helmets as worn by Kruger’s Bodyguard
3 Badges of above helmets
6 Ornaments (Harness) Staats Art’y – round ZAR surmounted Eagle
Testament as supplied to all the troops
8 Large Buttons (Artillery) (full dress)
3 Large Buttons (Artillery) (plain undress)
4 Small Buttons (Artillery) (full dress)
3 Small Buttons (Artillery) (plain undress)
4 Harness Badges (Round with Transvaal Arms)

Knife found in Boer Deserted Camp
2 Picture photos found in Boer Deserted Camp
1 Photo of Dutch Boy found on the veldt
Mrs Cronje’s apron taken from her tent at Paardeberg

Kruger Money:
2 Half Crowns, 2 two shilling pieces
2 Shillings, 2 Sixpences
2 Threepenny pieces, 2 pennies
[illegible] Sixpence engraved

[illegible] Had by K.O.S.B. Signaller
[illegible] & 4 small pieces of shell [fired?] at our troops & 1 piece of Pom Pom
4 Pieces quartz from Rand Gold mine

Papers:
3 Bloemfontein “Friend”
“Pretoria Friend”
2 “Government Gazette Extraordinary”
1 “Standard and Diggers News”
1 “Land En Volk”
1 “Bloemfontein Post”
& 1 “Die Volktrekker”

Stamps:
29 Transvaal V.R.I. Halfpenny
29 Transvaal V.R.I. Penny
2 Twopenny Halfpenny
2 Threepenny
2 Fourpenny
2 Sixpenny
& 2 Shilling
O.F. State V.R.I.
4 Halfpenny
4 Penny
2 Twopenny
2 Threepenny
2 Fourpenny
2 Shilling
Also a large number of Transvaal, O.F.S. & Cape of Good Hope used & unused.

2 Boer Official Receipts, signed by Jousladle[?], Landdrost.
1 Imperial Military Rl’y Ticket
1 Boer cheque for £6:10:6
1 Book of Music & Songs in Dutch
1 paper printed in Pietersberg – the only copy printed
2 Visiting Cards in Envelopes addressed in Dutch
2 Boer Telegram Envelopes
1 Envelope sketched by a wounded Soldier in Hospital
2 sheets of note paper illustrated with 14 sketches of the army in the field & the new war medal & Buller & Bobs
[illegible] Bovril as supplied to the [illegible] in the field full of Bovril
2 papers containing official returns of the troops
2 Sea Shore shells, one hit by a bullet
1 address to Gen’l Cronje & Field Cornets


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Continuing the theme or the last two posts, this framed group of badges coincidentally surfaced on eBay last week. It further illustrates how large quantities of ZAR and OVS insignia were finding their way to the UK during and shortly after the ABW.

The purpose-printed backing card indicates that these souvenirs must have been produced in some numbers.









The photographs below show how the framed badges compare with other examples in my collection (Owen #2062 and #2006). Apart from a few minor finishing differences they are identical.







A quick search through the British Newspaper Archive returned this advertisement, placed in the "Penny Illustrated Paper" by F. Roberts, of 2 Southampton Street, The Strand, which offers "Boer Badges" at 6d each. This again indicates that Boer insignia, probably unissued stock plundered from war stores in Pretoria and Bloemfontein, were readily available in the UK by late 1901. The one caveat here is that there is a remote possibility that Mr Roberts was selling re-strikes, in which case some of the badges encountered today could be period copies.





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Neville, it is certainly logical that Boer insignia would be commoner in the UK than SA - the same is true of Boer firearms. And clearly your badges and the unissued set on ebay are from the same die. I seem to recall that Boer badges were made in England. There is a longstanding practice in the UK of re-issuing popular badges from their original dies - so a run of souvenir re-strikes selling at 6 pence each in London would seem another good explanation. The four ZAR badges I showed are all very inferior in details compared to yours. The comparison makes me even more suspicious of those.

Rob D wrote: I seem to recall that Boer badges were made in England.

Rob,

From what MC Heunis has told me, I'm pretty sure all post-Albrecht reform OVS badges were made in Germany (supplied by C.F. Wulfert of 68 Charlotten-Straße, Berlin). An invoice dated 1 March 1890, and now in the Free State Archives, shows that the OVS Artillerie ordered both badges and dies from Berlin (the latter described as Stahlstempel zu den Mützenabzeichen and Stahlstempel zum Wappen). The ZAR, on the other hand, did indeed have badges made in the UK (supplied by Gaunt and Christys' of London; see below), though I am not sure if this remained the case after the mid-1890s.

So the restrike scenario might work for ZAR insignia, but not, it would seem, for the OVS (unless one goes back to the pre-Albrecht era).

Neville







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