Dating badges
 

Not an exact science in most case I would think. But apart from the crown and forces that ceased to be at a certain time, would I be correct in thinking that white metal pre-dates chrome? And if so. When did chrome badges first start to appear? Sorry for all the questions but I'm more used to Army cap badges than Police, and it's much easier to find affordable books on military badges than the Police.
Billyh

White metal (sometimes referred to as German silver) pre dates chrome plating. As a general rule of thumb, chrome plating began to be used on police insignia circa. 1935. A Home Office police clothing committee report was published in 1934 which recommends (amongst other things) that insignia should be of a particular size and design and that it should (with one or two exceptions) be chrome plated (or in the case of certain helmet ornaments) be black.

Dave.

Thanks Dave. I had no idea chrome badges had been issued quite so early.
Billyh

The actual process for Chrome Plating was developed in 1924 at Columbia University by Fink and Eldridge. They based their experimental work on a paper published by a scientist called Sargent. It has been claimed that a form of ‘spray chroming’ can be traced back to 1759 but the truth of that is open to conjecture possible?