Hi All,
I looked back into my records. Here is a response to my query re these two badges:
"Hi,
My opinion is that the badge on the left is probably the badge of the short-lived Independent Overseas Legion of Frontiersmen aka Imperial Overseas Legion of Frontiersmen which broke away c1927 and was brought back into the fold in 1934. As to the brighter badge on the right, it is believed, but not proved, that some years later an entrepreneur had quite a number of these struck as reproductions. I have seen these offered for sale with various claims regarding provenance as high as £UK125, which puts an extraordinary value on a non-military badge.
It has often been believed that this was the officers badge of the 25th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen) who served in East Africa 1915-1917, but in fact the officers badge bore little or no difference to the o.r.s due to the speed with which the unit was raised and some badges were also struck locally in East Africa. I have to admit that in early issues of my own "One Hundred Years of the Legion of Frontiersmen" (Phillimore 2004), due to an editorial error which I missed, the badge is incorrectly described as a 25th RF officers badge.
If you care to look at the history website
www.frontiersmenhistorian.info from early December on the Topic page for Dec/Jan you will find more on the IOC breakaway under the heading of "The Frontiersman who wrote to the King".
My latest book "Outrider of Empire" (University of Alberta Press 2008) has more on the subject.
Geoff Pocock (UK Historian and archivist)"
Cheers, Tinto