Clan bonnet badge makers & sizes

**OC Richard** · 26th December 20, 01:47 PM

A recent curious purchase made me take a look at the various Clan Crest bonnet badges which I'm seeing for sale currently. Some are by still-current makers, some are "new old stock".

The modern Clan crest craze seemed to have been kicked off by Art Pewter Silver (established 1968). They made these elegant smallish (40mm across) bonnet badges, and put Clan crests on sginean, buckles, cufflinks, kilt pins, etc.

They were shortly followed by Carrick Jewellery (established 1971) who made bonnet badges in two sizes (40mm and 50mm across) as well as a tiny lapel-pin size, kilt pins, etc.

In the 1980s I worked at a Highland Outfitter that sold these Carrick things and we sold the 50mm badge as a Glengarry badge and the 40mm badge as a Balmoral badge. Here are the two Carrick sizes on these bonnets to show how the proportion of each type of badge seems right for the type of bonnet.

Recently I saw this line of badges by a firm new to me and I bought one. The card says Images Of Scotland. Googling didn't come up with anything that seemed to be connected to badge-making, except one reference that suggested that Images Of Scotland might be owned by St Kilda Group.

Well Lo And Behold when the new badge was compared to a vintage Carrick large (50mm) badge it was obvious that they had come from the same moulds. Note that the Images Of Scotland badge appears to be pewter while the Carrick badge appears to be Rhodium plated.

I had read back around 2005 that Carrick Jewellery had been obtained by Gaelic Themes. However Gaelic Themes were making their own unique line of Clan crest bonnet badges aimed at the Pipe Band market. They're slightly smaller (47mm across) than the Carrick large badge. The Gaelic Themes designs strike me as a bit modernist.

Here's a selection of bonnet badges for comparison.

Upper row L-R: Carrick large, Images Of Scotland, Gaelic Themes.
Lower row L-R: Carrick medium, Art Pewter Silver.

Seeing all of these together makes clear the rather heavy-handed Gaelic Themes style.

**Arnot** · 26th December 20, 02:34 PM

If you look on the St Kilda Store website, you'll see that they sell a line of Carrick Clan badges along with their Gaelic Themes badges.

**OC Richard** · 26th December 20, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by Arnot

If you look on the St Kilda Store website, you'll see that they sell a line of Carrick Clan badges along with their Gaelic Themes badges.

I know that St Kilda Group has a number of firms
-Gaelic Themes
-RG Hardie
-Peter Henderson
-St Kilda Store

But earlier today when I was googling "St Kilda Store" all I was coming up with was an Australian firm. I somehow didn't see their UK site.

I have found several places selling "new old stock" Carrick items. What I wonder is, why would St Kilda Group sell three different lines of Clan crest badges? If they're already selling their own designs, and recasting the Carrick badges under the Images Of Scotland name. I suppose it's marketing, like them using the RG Hardie and Peter Henderson nameplates.

**Arnot** · 27th December 20, 01:54 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

I have found several places selling "new old stock" Carrick items. What I wonder is, why would St Kilda Group sell three different lines of Clan crest badges? If they're already selling their own designs, and recasting the Carrick badges under the Images Of Scotland name. I suppose it's marketing, like them using the RG Hardie and Peter Henderson nameplates.

They don't actually sell three. They sell their own and the large Carrick badges. Here is the link.

https://stkildastore.com/?gclid=EAIa...SAAEgIwoPD_BwE

**figheadair** · 27th December 20, 06:57 AM

What I find most surprising is the fact that there is no defined way to arrange the strap and buckle . Having checked with Lyon Court they commented that the way in which the strap is folded is merely stylistic rather than anything else. So, the strap folding over or under is equally correct.

**Tobus** · 27th December 20, 09:27 AM

Interesting comparisons, Richard! I'm glad you took the time to document their histories and show side-by-side comparisons of the styles/sizes. It makes it very easy to identify the makers.

The two clan badges I wear on my Balmorals are very different from each other. I couldn't remember who made them, as I've had them for over a decade. Clearly, one is Gaelic Themes and the other is Art Pewter Silver. I much prefer the finer or less "chunky" look of the Art Pewter Silver badge.

**David Dubh** · 27th December 20, 10:20 AM

The Celtic studio in Vancouver Canada also does clan crest badges in both pewter and silver
https://www.celticstudio.com/clan-ch...ans-badge.html
I’m not great at adding pictures yet but have a look at this link
Cheers David

**OC Richard** · 28th December 20, 07:11 AM

Thanks for the info gents, I will follow up on those.

Here's an interesting thing I just noticed about some vintage badges.

Here's a Sterling Silver badge hallmarked PH (Peter Henderson, Glasgow) and date-stamped X (1946).

Here's another vintage badge, sorry I don't have a photo of the reverse to see whatever stamps it might have.

If you look at the details of the buckle, chape, and arrangement of the grommets you will see that they're nearly identical, too similar to be coincidental. I do notice that the grommets to the right of the overlapping strap are missing (visible on the badges at top and below). My guess is that that area had been overlaid with lettering for a long-motto Clan and later, when the lines were restored for a short-motto Clan the grommets had not been replaced.

Now let's look at Carrick Jewellery's medium-size badge. Note that nearly every detail of the buckle, chape, and grommets match.

I think it's obvious that when Carrick started up (1971) that they had acquired the old set of moulds used by one of the older makers. The stippled background is seen on some other vintage badges of the same design.

All of these badges are 40mm across.

**OC Richard** · 28th December 20, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by David Dubh

The Celtic studio in Vancouver Canada also does clan crest badges in both pewter and silver.

Thank for the link, here's one from that site.

It appears to be cast from the Carrick large badge moulds.

**OC Richard** · 28th December 20, 07:41 AM

Tobus this badge is very interesting.

If I may ask, what is the width of that badge?

So I just Googled "clan badges" and saw a large number of badges offered, all of them derived from one of the firms I show above except Tobus' badge which I did find

https://www.scottishtradingcompany.c...oducts_id=1290

They don't say who makes those.