Old Contemptibles Banner

[AdamB]

I was wondering how much people know of the banners by the OCA?

Hopefully we will be getting one displayed at the museum I work in, but the existing condition of the banner, issues with ownership and value to the exhibition are all a factor. From what I can tell they are relatively sought after items but those that do exist don't tend to be advertised much by the people that house them.

So more specifically I am curious about how rare/valuable such a banner is deemed? I know that there were over 100 different OCA branches in the UK and around 16 abroad, but it certainly doesn't seem like there are over 100 of these banners lying aorund (on display anyway).

Also I was not sure whether this needed its own thread or not. I saw a few other topic on the OC but on different issues and the last topic on OC Banners was dated back from 2004.

Thanks,

Adam

[Old Tom]

I recall seeing one recently in a church. Which seems the right place for them. Perhaps you would say who 'we' are.

Old Tom

[Bombadier]

The Portsmouth banner is still in existence but I will not advertise where. I am the proud owner of the badges which were displayed on the coaches when they travelled to the reunions at Aldershot

Nigel

[T8HANTS]

They are Branch Standards not banners.

They represent the point of honour of the Branch they represented, the very essence of those who were its members. When the branch closed some were laid up in churches, and allow to return to dust, just as those who carried them have returned to dust. Others were simply stored, and even more sadly in some cases the church into which they were entrusted have betrayed that trust and destroyed them. I know of one church that burned the laid up standards of the RAA.

That said, yes they will have value, but to fail to understand what lies behind the symbolism of a standard is to completely miss the point of their function and purpose. To those who marched behind them they were not art objects.

G

[AdamB]

They are Branch Standards not banners.

They represent the point of honour of the Branch they represented, the very essence of those who were its members. When the branch closed some were laid up in churches, and allow to return to dust, just as those who carried them have returned to dust. Others were simply stored, and even more sadly in some cases the church into which they were entrusted have betrayed that trust and destroyed them. I know of one church that burned the laid up standards of the RAA.

That said, yes they will have value, but to fail to understand what lies behind the symbolism of a standard is to completely miss the point of their function and purpose. To those who marched behind them they were not art objects.

G

Thanks, that has really helped. I will make sure the word 'banner' is banned.

Adam.