REME Capbadge

No matter what the banter is on this thread it has to be remembered that REME are the only Corps in the Army that carries out its real job in war & peace - namely keeping all of the equipments, the rest of you break, in a usable condition.

You are a bunch of Wan**er's.......The, REME badge is the brightest badge in the British army........Bar NONE. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

You're being very coy about your background nails but, and I'm taking a huge stab in the dark here, were you in REME by any chance ?  

lab1950 wrote:

No matter what the banter is on this thread it has to be remembered that REME are the only Corps in the Army that carries out its real job in war & peace - namely keeping all of the equipments, the rest of you break, in a usable condition.

One or two others spring to mind, Int Corps, RLC, AGC, (Incl Pay, Legal, Provost). Sure we can think of more? 

Shelldrake wrote:

lab1950 wrote:

No matter what the banter is on this thread it has to be remembered that REME are the only Corps in the Army that carries out its real job in war & peace - namely keeping all of the equipments, the rest of you break, in a usable condition.

One or two others spring to mind, Int Corps, RLC, AGC, (Incl Pay, Legal, Provost).   Sure we can think of more? 

What you must also bear in mind,The REME (phase 1) were only introduced into the army orbat in 1942,and then only to centralise equipment repairs and to ease the burden of front line units.(phase 2 came in 1949).
The REME have no regimental colours with battle honours upon them,and in order of presidence they come after a unit that does not even "fix bayonets"on parade.
Having said that,I knew a few good lads in the REME.

ciphers wrote:

Just a part of it, comprised of over 600 cap badges, 120 helmet plates, plus the collection of helmets, shakos etc.
Unfortunately now gone, was offered a good price for the whole shebang and took advantage of the offer  .. now I wish I had kept it .. I had a superb set of Victorian Light Infantry badges, see them below




Len (Ciphers)

Seeing the pic of part of your 'badge collection put me in mind of my Dad's extensive collection of cap badges.  Unfortunately, I wasn't that 'into' it all and so can't really tell you much about some of the star items he had...but I remember he had a couple of rare ones that were worth a fortune!  Mostly Canadian, of course, but I think he had a few Commonwealth ones as well.

When he was alive (he unfortunately unexpectedly died in 1980 at age 50 of a massive cardiac infarction), he was perhaps one of the preeminent collectors, certainly in Canada, and a recognized authority on cap badges and then, by extension, collar dogs, shoulder flashes, etc.  

What he didn't have framed and up on the wall (every wall!!) of his 'badge room' he had mounted on squares of cardboard covered in fabric, usually the 'correct' colour re regimental or corp or unit colour, and filed in this massive (and army issue of course!!) filing cabinet.  He often wrote for some well-known (not to me!) collector magazine dedicated to cap badging.

After he died -- quite a while after, as Mom was loathe to sell off his collection as it was so much 'him' -- she did finally sell it en masse to another collector who'd been aching to get his mitts on it...respectfully aching, but aching.  I have no idea what she got for it, but I do remember her saying it was enough for a downpayment on a nice house (that would have been in around 1982 or 83 and I know the bi-level house she and dad bought after he retired got sold for $180,000.00 at the time...far less than the same house would sell for now!!) so I'm thinking she probably got anywhere from $18-20,000.00 for it.  She never discussed finances with me -- ever! -- so to this day I have no idea, merely guessing.

Dad would have gone ga-ga over your collection, Len!  He'd have happily spent the entire afternoon going over it and talking with you about it and sharing stories and trading...

Thanks for posting the pic...