Chev CMP Enamel Dash Badge

[David Dunlop]

I am not sure how many of you Chev CMP owners were lucky enough to acquire a vehicle with the original General Motors Maple Leaf Enamel Pin still fitted to the dash (not sure if it was ever included in the armoured vehicles GM built in Canada) but I thought I would toss out a brief history of the maker of these badges.

The Breadner Manufacturing Company was established in Ottawa around 1900 and was a large maker of silverware. Their hallmark was "BMCo", which can be seen on the back of the Chev CMP Badge. The company was located in a large building situated at 1000-1002 Somerset St. West in Ottawa until 1930, when they relocated to Hull, Quebec, across the river. At this time, they also renamed the company Breadner Company Limited.

During World War II, Breadner was a very large maker of Military Cap Badges, buttons and other insignia for the Canadian Military. At the end of the war, they briefly entered the radio business under the brand name "Bradna", specializing is small portable radios. This only lasted a few years and they reverted to their roots in jewellery and silverware. Today they are the largest maker of Sterling silver souvenir spoons in Canada under the same BMCo hallmark. Who knows, they may still even have the original dies in storage for the Chev CMP Enamel Dash Badge.

David