Hi Frank
I'll dig out my ones. I think I've posted some photos of them before but I'll check again.
One of my badges has:
a curious "coffin shaped" fitting that you see on badges from the 50s; no back stamp or maker's name;a very dark, untouched bronze colour; no association number
I've got one or two that have clearly "had a life" and they are a lot more "copper" in colour than I would expect from brass.
One thought that does occur and that is that there was a metal commonly used at the time called "gilding metal".
This metal was used as it was possible to enamel it quite easily whereas copper would produce a dark "firescale" that made transparent colours darker and brass is "difficult" to enamel as the zinc causes problems with enamel retention.
Amazing what you can learn from old books and even older people!
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