British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum - Royal Military College S31 Variation

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Royal Military College S31 Variation

Acquired this Royal Military College cap badge on the weekend. It has three lugs, and is significantly different than the one in the Post 1920 Canadian Gallery. It has two mm on the reverse. Made in England and FIRMIN London.
Are the three lugs for a cap or a pouch badge?

Bill,
Possibly a a badge for the buckle of the white waist belt. Mine has three lugs. To my knowledge, a pouch belt was never worn by RMC cadets.
Wyn

In my experience, this pattern of RMC hat badge always appears with the three lug arrangement, probably because of the design it incorporates- without the lug behind the crown, the badge would be at risk of having the arm and crown bent severely, if not worse.
There appears to be some die differences between your badge and the one in the gallery, but other than you badge appearing to have a slightly canted crown, the other differences seem minor to my eye. The double mm on you badge is interesting- possibly indicating an earlier striking, but the FIRMIN marking is unusual to me- most of these RMC badges that I have encountered
have GAUNT markings in my experience.
PS: The three lug arrangement also applies to the KC French version of this hat badge.
Cheers,
John S.