Cap badge Makers marks : eBay Guides

There are a rash of fake makers marks out there.  First of all:

JR Gaunt London were a reputable firm and about 1941 or so they did have a JRGaunt London mark on the sliders of some of their cavalry and yeomanry badges.  The lettering is tiny.  I show a picture of a genuine 2nd Northants Yeomanry badge with that mark.  This is one of the most widely copied Yeomanry badges and should not be trusted with solid front legs.

From the late 40s onwards they had a large font JR Gaunt London mark which is seen on most 1950s badges both brass and a/a.

You also find JR Gaunt Bham on a/a badges of units that existed after 1958. However the Bham mark was not in use until the early 1970s so any badge with this mark is likely to be a repro made for the collector's market.  Gaunt moved production to Bham in the 1970s, possibly as early as 1971-3,  and restruck a lot of scarce badges - particularly Yeomanry ones.  They also made other rare,  WW1 Guards MG Bn,  and sometimes 'new' designs that were probably never ever worn such as the Tyneside Irish and Q/C Dorset Yeomanry.  The firm also produced a lot of 'rare' 1960s designs in a/a for commercial sale.  23rd London Regt and so on were restruck by the bucketfull.

There are also a JR Gaunt.London sliders - note the full stop and the medium lettering - this is a mark of a fake! I show a fake badge with the wide feathers typical of the fake welsh/cavalry/yeomanry badges who all have these dumpy feathers.

Also any WD and a crows foot are a recent fake mark and Marples and Beasley really cannot be trusted on ORs badges.

One old 1970's mark that does appear occasionally as old collections are broken up is 'ENGLAND'.  This is often found on badges of London regts.  The slider is distinctive in its shape.