AN UNRECORDED BAXTER VARIETY DISCOVERED

116A                    116B

I recently received a letter from  a good friend of ours, going back many years and, I believe, a founder member of the New Baxter Society. He and his wife retired to Devon over 30 years ago and they still live there. He has retained his membership of the Society, although he disposed of his collection some years ago. Subsequently, whilst on holiday, he found in Hay on Wye, an incomplete set of the Orders of Knighthood; 3 volumes , with volume 4 missing. It was not until this year that, with a view to selling, he gave this job lot more careful scrutiny and made an intriguing find.

Within a few pages of the plate of the Riband and Badge of a Companion from the Order of the Bath (CL 116A) in volume 3, Bob to his surprise, found another plate, similar to CL 116A but with significant differences. In the index to the illustrations there is no mention of a second plate nor is there mention of a second plate by Courtney Lewis. It will be referred to as CL116B.

The main difference between the two plates are with respect to the Badge itself (see illustrations). Not only is the badge in 116A appreciably smaller, as is the connecting ring to the riband, but instead of the shell design at the top of the badge in 116A, we have a design displaying the Prince of Wales' feathers in 116B. Also on the outer circle of the badge in A the leaves of the wreath design are very close together so the circle appears green, and it has red blobs between the leaves at intervals. In B, the leaves are bigger and more distinct, with the gold background much more prominent, but no red blobs. In A the "lch Dien" lettering is a different shape and the colour is green, whereas in B, it is blue.

On reading the letter, not surprisingly, I could not wait to inspect the plates in my collection. I am fortunate enough to have both the gold and yellow varieties. I had naturally assumed that I therefore possessed two copies of 116A, one gold and one yellow, as per the illustration in The Price Guide to Baxter Prints. Imagine my surprise to find that neither print was 116A! Both were 116B! The Baxter CD-Rom also shows 116A.

Why the two varieties of this particular decoration? One suggestion has been that 116B was the official insignia and that some recipients might have a smaller version made privately, rather as there are smaller versions of military medals. But why change the design and why produce a second plate?  Another theory offered is that 116A was produced first and the design was changed to116B because the recipients of the former decoration considered the badge too small and insignificant and that a larger and more important badge was more in keeping with their exalted state. An intriguing puzzle! Hopefully other members will not be slow in advancing their theories. Indeed, which version do other members have? We can then establish which is the rarer.

How extraordinary that after over a century, during which time Baxter prints have been explored by so many experts and collectors, that this "find" should now be made by a retired gentleman in Devon! What other new discoveries remain still to be revealed?