Non-Robertsons Badges

Since James and his son stopped producing Golly badges, there have been literally hundreds of badges produced that pay tribute to the mighty Golly, a few of the early ones had Robertson's blessing, the majority did not.  I don't class these badges as Repros or Fakes, as I prefer to keep those terms for the era when Robertsons were still producing badges.

Some of these badges were produced for charitable purposes, many were not.  I have many of these badges in my collection, here are some of them:

2001

The Great Golly Giveaway 2001 (TGGG2001) was a charity fund raising exercise, in aid of Children in Need, that produced a very professional badge, with Robertson's approval.  In 2002 a solid silver version was produced.

A lovely Farewell Tribute Badge to Golly was produced with the dates 1930-2001, however, it didn't take long before a rival was produced with the 'correct' dates of 1928-2001 - both beautifully produced badges with superb designs, but both without Robertson's approval.

2002

The Golly Badge Club is a Yahoo Chat Group for Golly collectors. It produced some excellent badges in 2002 which have also provided some charitable donations.  None of these have been produced with Robertson's approval.

To commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee another superb Golly badge has been produced, limited to just 100, but without any official approval.

The final Golly badge to appear with Robertson's blessing is known as Sara's Badge.  Produced by Richard Burton as part of his magnificent Leukaemia fund raising efforts (he's raised over £150,000), it is a truly super badge.  Issued in the autumn of 2002, everyone should be able to get this badge as 10,000 have been made.  For details of how to obtain one of these badges please visit Liz Prigg's site.

Football Golly badges seemed to be one of the themes of 2002.  There was an England badge closely resembling Robertson's World Cup '98 badge and then there was the 2002 World Cup badge from Gollidays (they also produced a couple of other Golly badges during the year- see below).  Towards the end of the year a number of new Golly "Football Club" badges appeared that were based on Robertson's World Cup badge:  Burnley; Southampton (Saints); West Ham (Hammers); and Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs).  Who knows how many more will be made in 2003 - perhaps a re-run of all those cricketting Gollies.  The final supporters' badge, based on the '98 World Cup badge was 'England 2004'.  This time, the colours remained faithful to Robertson's original, but the size was been reduced from 37mm in height down to a mere 24mm - someone really jumped the gun on this one, probably in frustration at Robertsons who never managed to get their sporting commemorative badges out on time! Click here to see all that I have in my collection.

Neil McGhee is another Golly badge producer who has put some high quality Golly badges on the market in 2002 under the name Golly Revival.  The Manchester Commonwealth Games was the first, followed by a New Year badge.  Each badge is limited to just 100 and are of a superior quality to some others I've seen.

The Great Golly Giveaway of 2001 was deemed to be so successful that another effort to raise money for Children in Need couldn't be passed up in 2002.  Chris Baron, the man behind the Great Golly Giveaway, produced several badges for TGGG 2002, these include a standard TGGG 2002 badge and another super solid silver counterpart.  Additionally, he's really pushed the boat out with a set of 8 Occupations Badges that were available in Oct (plus of course the attendant variations that Chris so delightfully offered).  He's also produced a set of 8 Golly Sportsmen badges that will be available early in 2003.  And finally, the TGGG's Donator Badge, given away free to everyone who donated Golly material for Chris to auction.

Some other late offerings during 2002 come from another entrepreneurial character, Stuart Holden, the man behind BuyGolly.net.  He's come up with a few nice Golly badges including a Halloween Badge, a Golly Balloon badge, Golly in a Jam and he was also behind those very nice Gold and Silver Enamelled Farewell badges, you know, those ones that Robertson's should've produced instead of the rubbishy things they offered us.

Probably the final offering of the year is a neat set of 3 circular Golly Fruits.  Issued in a limited set of 100 (each stamped on the back with their number).  Each badge depicts a different version of the Golly head in the centre, surrounded by either Oranges, lemons or strawberries and have the lettering "I'M A GOLLY COLLECTOR" around the outer circumference.

2002 turned out to be a bumper year for the Golly collector.  Although many groan at the unregulated proliferation of unauthorized badges, it's up to you what you want to add to your collection.

2003

The Golly Badge Club (GollyBC) continued producing badges in 2003, Will Carpentier was then the man behind these badges and indeed the club.  So far 2 have appeared this year, one is the standard Club Badge, the other produced for Red Nose Day and has Golly looking cross-eyed, the first time, I believe, that Golly's eyes have pointed in this direction.  If you like these badges they can be obtained (subject to availability) by joining the GollyBC.

There has been an absolute explosion of Golly badges issued throughout 2003 and continuing unabated throughout 2004. One day I'll get them all on on my web site, but that's too big a job at the moment.  If you have any queries or questions about Golly badges please e-mail me.