Gentlemen,

I have two tassels in my collection which are both purchased as Naval sword tassel, but they are of different tone. I read it somewhere (possibly from Jim Dawson's book) that it is a common mistake that all brown tassels are considered as Naval because there are actually two kinds of 'brown' tassels. Can someone enlighten me on this ?

Thank you.

Keith

Hi Keith,

Dawson is correct that late war Army Officer tassels (as well as some Warrant Officers) wore all brown sword tassels. Army tassels are lighter in color and the one on the left in your photo seems to be an army tassel to me. It is hard to distinguish colors but if the tassel on the right is olive it is also an Army tassel. Navy tassels were dark brown so I would think that these are both Army examples.

George

Hey George,

You are here to help again, much appreciated. I have about six so-called Navy tassels in my collection, all with slightly different color tone. This could be due to color fade and / or I suspect that some are fakes. The blue / brown army tassels are easier to spot but the Navals are really difficult ! Thank you once again.

Happy collecting !

Keith