USN Emergency Rating H

[Bearmon]

What is the going price for a 1st class Blue H rating.    I was told the H, Harbor Defense Sonarman rate is the toughest letter rate to get.  Only used on the west coast at a single command for 4 years.   Thanks

[dpcsdan]

No takers on this "H" discussion?

[Bearmon]

10 hours ago, dpcsdan said:

No takers on this "H" discussion?

Apparently not.   Kind of disappointing.

[busternfo]

Hi Bearmon,  I cannot find anything in my files re. what I paid for mine, but I've had it for years.  John Stacey puts the years of use as a Harbor Defense Sonarman from 1959 to 1965, when it was merged into Sonar Technician.  I had not heard about a single command using it, etc.  Interesting.  I did not realize how tough it was to find until I looked in my stock and found the one example.  Wish I was more help,

Dennie 

[dpcsdan]

My understanding is that it was used for a very short period around the Los Angeles and Long Beach naval areas.

Also of importance, John Stacey and I discussed the Specialist, Emergency Service Ratings and Emergency Ratings. A number of these were used so infrequently that manufacturers and uniform tailors produced rating badges with "blank/empty" diamonds in the specialty area of the rating badge and only added the needed "alpha letter" when a specific specialty was needed for an order. That is one of the reasons you will find enlisted blues rating badges where the letter in the diamond is the only part of the rating badge that will glow under black light. That is the case with the E4-E5-E6 "H's" I purchased around 2009 from the Don Thompson collection. I purchased six (3-blue and 3-white) from Don Thompson's son.

I don't have an estimate of how very few Emergency Service Rating "H" rating badges were ever officially worn. I do believe a couple might have been worn. In any event, true ES-H rating badges are some of the rarest to obtain.

Note 1943 and 1945 "blanks" with 1959 rating specialty.

[Bearmon]

Thank you both for the posts.  I appreciate the responses.

 

[David Minton]

I recently passed on a blue 1c for $100. It was probably a fair price, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on a patch outside my self-imposed collecting period of 1905-1948. I bought a spectacular pre-WWII gold bullion Chief Photographer from the seller instead.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk