Special Service Battalion Officers Capbadge
 

What are your opinions about this, I guess officers', SSB capbadge? quality of the cast is very poor,at least in othe backsiede, but still it looks quite allright to me.... thank you in advance!

It is unlikely to be a fake as this badge is very common in SA. It may be WW2, as many SA badges were cast during that time. Regards Andrew

Thank you Andrew, as a matter of fact I've paid it peanuts... do you confirm it's an officers' badge, though?

by the way....
 

... since you seem to be a pretty knowledgeable collecotr, Andrew, could you please give a look to this post of mine?

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...5035#post55035

Thank you in advance!

I do not know if it is an officers badge. Regards Andrew

Attachment 20376

The Special Service Battalion was and is still known for its exceptionally high standard of discipline both during training and operations. I have a substantial collection of both badges and militaria to them as my grandfather served as a senior NCO with the unit both in South Africa and in Italy. I do not see this quality of badge being worn by any member of the unit as it would not have been conducive to the high standards of discipline that was expected and enforced. Some sources refer to the discipline as being "severe". Officer's had gilt mess dress badges and would not have worn a cast badge on their headdress. In my 34 years of collecting to the SSB, I have not come across a cast badge and this is the first example that I have seen. It may have been struck in North Africa where the 6th SA Division did its final training before embarking for Italy.

well, a lot of cast badges were struck in North Africa, weren't they? I've got a Regiment Botha sandcast badge I bought in Poland in the late Seventies together with other souvenirs from a Polish veteran.... I understand they were quite regularly produced ...

Found this old post while searching for something else. This is a white metal casting as worn by the Permanent arm of the UDF form 1943 to 1963. The citizen force soldiers wore brass badges. It is not specific to officers though.

nice to hear it, thank you!