Coldstream and Suffolk Badge Authenticity
 

Looking for opinions on these badges.

This Coldstream Guards badge has a dot in the middle of the belt buckle and in grenadierguardsman’s Coldstream album there is a badge with the dot in the middle of the buckle, but the back of my badge is very different like the double dots on the belt and the lettering seems less well defined. Doesn’t bode well.

The Suffolk badge has quite a curve to it.

I think they are both fine.
Cheers,
Alex

Coldstream cap star looks good to me.

Simon.

Suffolk Regt
 

A nice example, curved to fit snugly on the cap.

Rob

It's been double struck.
Usually you find if the first strike didn't emboss the detail well enough or was too light a strike, then the badge would have been restruck to redefine the detail.
The double effect is from a slight misalignment from either repositioning or the male part shifted between the two strikes.

You often see the effect when a press is being set up and testing strikes for alignment. The bottom die holders have and x and y adjustment and you adjust a screw or bolt down to alter alignment. Occasionally these shift in use if not tight enough. Top dies are usually rigidly fixed to the ram.

These later designs are hydraulic compression rather than embossing, so the metal is slightly thicker and squeezed down rather than earlier drop presses which tend to emboss by pushing the metal both up and down rather than compressing it to conform.
You have less depth and thicker metal than victorian designs but the machines run a lot faster and more consistently. Drop presses tend to need multiple strikes with anealing between to get the depth.

I think both badges are fine and I particularly like the Suffolk Regiment badge with its sweat holes and crimped slider.

Neibelungen, thanks for the explanation. If I understand the more modern process correctly it is the thickness of the metal which allows the front to look like it should and what happens on the reverse not to effect the front.

Would the Suffolk badge be issued flat and then curved?

What are the sweat holes? I want to say it's a term related to manufacture.

Thanks for all the comments. It's always nice to cross a couple of names off the list.

Hello there - with regard to sweat holes, I came across this article the other day which quite succinctly explains what they are & why they're there.

https://www.yorkandlancasterregiment...ns/sweat-holes


HTH,

Kevin

Badges were of course issued flat. A soldier would often bend a badge to fit the headdress to his taste.

CB