NNSH

Well,I thought I'd share what I have been trying to track down for awhile. I finally lucked out and found a pair of black North Nova Scotia Highlander shoulder flashes. These came from an antique shop in St. Contest France,and were taken off a tunic found in Caen. Happy fella here!

I edited to add the reverse pics guys. Sorry it took a bit. They do look cut down but there is thread where they were cut down. Could they have been cut down in the period and then re-sewn? Anything is possible,but is there a plausible reason why "Canada" would be taken off during service? I have seen these in pics without the "Canada" as well.

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Hi Those titles have been cut down. There was a third line, reading CANADA. Note how close the bottom edge is to the lettering.

That is a common tactic. Militaria Rule No. 1 - Never buy the story, buy the item.

An image of the reverse would be helpful...

Bill,

These look English made from the front .... I think they are WWII vintage ???

Ypres

I was hoping to see an image of the reverse before commenting further. They look like the starch back pattern which were not available until either late spring or early summer 1945. Just recently I saw an image of a fellow wearing these but it had the Canada, and it was dated to the summer/fall of 1945. He was not in the CAOF.
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What tactic Ed?

Buy the item and not the story.

Cameraguy wrote:What tactic Ed?

I suspect it has something to do with the fact that a dishonest person may try to make a postwar flash appear wartime? I have seen this a few times. One to look out for is the Canadian Scottish ..... the "Princess Mary's" and "The" portion can be trimmed off to look like the earlier title. Here are a few links so you can see what I mean ....

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Ypres

Postwar? I thought all post '40 NNSH flashes were blue variety?

Not sure what you mean by post '40? The first issue of NNSH titles were acquired in Canada in 1941 and were yellow on medium blue, as were the subsequent authorized issues in the UK. The printed pattern was also blue. These "black" ones were unauthorized and at best private purchase. There would be no logical reason to remove the Canada, except perhaps for deception, to create something that the titles were not. The nationality title was to be worn with titles that did not have Canada or Canadian in the actual title. (Though there appears to have been some confusion over this policy, especially in 3 CID.)

Aside from the cutting of the Canada title,they look authentic to me...smell,age the standard things we look for. But shoot,I hate the idea there is so many authenticity problems with so much out there.

As far as colouring goes,I was confused in my thinking that the black titles were the first issue,then they moved to blue. I knew that! Jeeez! Anyway,thanks for the info guys. This is why I like it here, we are always learning and we always make mistakes.

Cheers.