Royal Artillery Volunteers
 

This week i got the first two Royal Artillery Volunteer badges for my collection.
1.) a victorian crown helmet plate, K&K 829a and following Westlake´s "British Home Service Helmets 1878-1914" with the general pattern inscription "ARTILLERY VOLUNTEERS" page 89, pre-1891 version.
The plate is not damaged, but the surface, especialy obverse, is discoloured by oxydation. The base metal is white and the thin silvering changed to dark grey-red-brown colour. I will not polish or clean it anyway .....

2.) A cap badge with KC and 10 laurel leafes, white metal and it looks not silvered, the surface is more matt white. It should be K&K844 and from the period 1902-1908 - but in my hands it looks very "fresh" or brandnew. Have i here a restrike or fake ? Weight 8,9g, a very light badge.

Thanks for all comments,

kind regards
Markus

Markus,

The helmet plate is probably original but in such a poor state almost as if its been buried. I would not buy it, its a common badge and easy to obtain.

The cap badge is not Volunteers but a post 1908 Territorial Force RA cap badge. It is also probably a fake and I wouldnt want that one either.

If you can do so then send both back.

regards

Thanks for your expertise Simon ! :)

That is what i have expected, the helmet plate is original but ugly, the cap badge a fake .....
I bought both from a dealer in the UK (may i write the name here ?) and i was aware about the condition of the helmet plate. It is my first RA helmet plate and i will keep it in my collection, it is 120 years old and may have some "patina" ...
And i think it is better to keep also the cap badge as a "warning sample", very uncomfortable to send items from the EU to the UK and back again .... always have to pay import taxes and fees and a lot of trouble. :rolleyes:

Perhaps i should post doubtfull badges here before i buy them .... in future.

Thanks again and kind regards
Markus

... i am a little bit confused and have to ask again:
I thought the gilt / gilding-metal badges with laurel leafes instead of UBIQUE were worn by the RA territorial forces after 1908, and the white metal / silvered badges 1902-1908 by RA volunteers.
I have two in gilding metal in my small collection ..... ?

Thanks and kind regards
Markus

The laurel on the top scroll of the cap badge is for the TF, examples are found in both WM and GM. The pre-1908 Vols cap badges actually have ‘Volunteers’ written on this top scroll instead.

Helmet Plates are a different kettle of fish re the laurel.

In my belief you WM cap badge is genuine.

Thank you Luke for your comment !
King & Kipling "offer" both variants for the volunteers on page 228, with a spray of laurel or VOLUNTEERS, numbers 844 and 845.
Are they wrong and new knowlegde came up after the book was published ?

Kind regards
Markus

They are wrong.

regards

The Laurel wreath gun cap badge was worn by the TF from 1908 as they, like the rest of the new TF, were denied the Regular battlehonours until 1916.

The laurel wreath badge was still worn in the late 1930s by Bangor University College OTC.

I think it likely that the white metal badge was worn on their Blues hats.

Alan

I have always wondered whether this generic Artillery Vols HP was ever worn in Australia. A very long coastline (and six different colonial armies) meant that we had a lot of small volunteer arty batteries, wearing lion and unicorn HPs in Victoria, Tasmania, WA and Qld. The only documented HPs have all had specific place names.