Stitching on badges

Gents,

I have some concerns about the stitching on the 3rd Div badge and the signaller's flags. For some reason it seems modern to me. I am fine with the stitching on the shoulder title.

What are your opinions on this one?

Wouter

To me the stitching on badges does not make any difference. Unless its obviously post war, we need to remember that there where thousands of hands attaching insignia to uniforms and thus there should be thousands of unique ways the badges were attached. Some were machine done. Some were hand done. And some where a combination of both. When I look at a uniform I look at the whole item. It needs to look like its all been there for almost 80 years. This can't be faked. Its hard to explain, but when several pieces have been together for that long they acquire a "sameness". It's much easier to see in person than on a computer.


All the best,

Ypres

Thanks for your message. In the end it was sold for a little more than I was willing to pay. It went for almost US $1000. Too bad, because it was named and I was able to find out a little bit about the fellow. Should anyone on here have bought it, drop me a line.

A couple of notes to consider. Insignia was sewn on by the soldier, or by a regimental tailor (which were few and far between in the CASF), or by RCOC tailors. They could be hand sewn or machine sewn. And, nothing stopped a soldier from having the badges applied by private tailors or seamstress.
As Rick says, I would not be concerned by the style of sewing, but I would want to examine the type of thread, if insignia had been removed or added to the jacket and the type of insignia on the garment. This in itself in not a conclusive indication, but gives one a better understanding of what they examining.

Fair point, thanks for your message Bill.

I am told that another way to check for period authenticity on the stitching is with ultraviolet light. The modern threads will phosphor [if that is the correct term] while the wartime thread will not react to UV light. I did this once on a set of jump wings that glowed under UV and chose not to buy them. The ones I did buy did not glow under UV. Maybe someone else has this knowledge to add to the conversation.

phil

Phil, that is partly correct. The glow is attributed to a couple of factors. First, the composition of thread changed after the war to synthetic fibers, eg rayon, nylon etc. Previously it had usually been silk, cotton, or some other natural (eg not man-made) material. The other factor is the cleaning substances. Modern detergents and cleaning solutions may create a glow under a black light. But the garment itself is authentic.
The black light test is only one factor. For example someone could have restored insignia to a uniform and used modern thread. Another technique is the burn test. Take a thread from the badge (obviously one that doesn't damage the integrity of the piece). Light it with a flame. Old fabric (thread) will burn while new material will melt. And a caution on this, synthetic fabric became the norm in the 50's. These tests will not be much use if the garment / badge dates from that era on.