Gentleman:
I thought it would be helpful to give you a little background information on the U.M Badges that are occasionally sold on EBAY and through our site
http://www.worldwiderelics.com so that collectors do not get confused or taken by people who buy stuff from me and then resell it. I thought I would correct Claymore on one area he is wrong.
Flash & Circle Badges: The tooling for these badges came from a scrap yard in Ilford near the station and were found by me in the early 1980's. They had a stamp on them that said: "Brixton Tool & Die" and were in reasonable condition. The smaller badge in enamel is very similiar to an original in my collection so I can only assume this was a branch fund raiser. Any one who ever attended a U.M meeting back in the day use to see so many examples of that badge that it is impossible to catalogue them! Any badges produced by WWR are easy to tell since they have our email address on the back. The cut away Flash & Circles were sold to my certain knowledge in the style I produce as late as the 1970's and could be bought from Jeff Hamm for about 30 pence. My ones are the correct size and I have seen ones larger that are the size of an old 10 pence coin. These one have a longer pin verses the 2" inch pin I have on the ones I sell. Again these badges came from dies bearing the "Bixton Tool & Die" markings. All badges have "Abbey Supplies 1987" on the back with the exception of a few proofs and rejects.
BUF 1934 Badge: This was deliberately made larger to avoid confusion and was produced in 1982 to celebrate 50 years of Mosley politics in the UK and should have had the letters U.M 1982 but the badge people got it wrong. A few were sold off at FOM get togethers in the late 1980's with the residual winding up on our website.
Flag Badges: These again are taken from 1950's dies and are probably were a branch fund raiser. They are easy to spot since they are not made of pressed aluminium but are die struck. I have seen the exact badge I sell at a U.M get together in 1982 so I know they were produced in the early 1950's. Look for the stamp on the back and you will be able to tell a WorldWideRelics.com badge.
Union Movement Badge: Claymore I am sorry to say you are wrong. I should know since I belonged to the branch that had them made. They were made in 1981 by 2 brothers who were trying to launch a U.M branch. It never numbered more than 10 people and died out by 1984. The badges were made by a local company and about 300 were made at a cost of GBP 175 - a lot of money in those days. About half were sold in the mid 1980's at U.M/Action Society/FOM get togethers and the other half were bought by myself so that they could be sold through the website.
Armbands: Made for 'Action' paper sellers at the same time. They have a 'Abbey Supplies 1984' stamp inside. The one shown on this page is a home made one, which turn up quite often and is certainly genuine. WWR ones are made up the same as the originals but are elasticated as opposed to the 2 press studs.
Belts: The picture on our website is wrong and will be replaced. Ours are correct right down to the adjuster buckle on the side. This type of belt didnt make an appearance until 1938 and was made by pulling the 'fasces' emblem off and adding the 1 1/2 inch flash emblem. You can tell ours by looking at the number on the back of the belt place. It starts at 01 and finishes at 0350. Other than that you cannot tell one apart from the original. Incidently the adjustor was made of 'german silver' on the originals and we had them recreated by the same process.
Shirts: We sell them infrequently but they are made of the same cloth as the original. You can tell ours by the fact that we used 'ARP' buttons on ours which although look like the originals have a MOD upright arrow on the back! They usual show up with a yellow flash or propoganda colors. Look in the collar if it does have the size label in then you should check the buttons.
In closing we tell every one that we sell reproductions hence my long post here.
by Kristijan on 10 Jan 2005 19:58 
