RAF Officer's cap badge.

[High Wood]

I know that this badge is missing its eagle but I am wondering why it has been mounted on a curved brass backing plate. Any thoughts please?

[High Wood]

Now all back together, but I still cannot understand why someone went to all the trouble of cutting and shaping a piece of brass when a piece of stiff card would have sufficed.

[Pembird]

This is a badge typical of 1918/20 period and in fact the Gaunt badge of this era is on a metal backing plate, this is of a similar design.

[High Wood]

Many thanks for the update. I have learnt something today as all the other ones that I have seen are cloth backed and have internal stiffeners.

[SAS1]

I'd hazard a guess that on the original badge the backing cloth was very dirty or badly mothed, so someone took the metal elements off, made a new backing and added the crown and wreath (not sure why the eagle was originally missing).

Pembird is correct about the shape being early, but whether the original backing was that shape is open to question, the same metal elements being used in Second war economy badges.