12th Australian Infantry Regiment (1900 to 12) officer's hat badge of dubious authenticity.
eBay link
I have spoken to some other very knowledgeable Australian collectors and we all agree that this badge appears to be one of the ones that came out of Melbourne a few years ago.
A certain unscrupulous person (
and also sadly a member of this forum) has attempted to add enamel to several authentic Other Rank hat badges to make them into super expensive ($1000+) officer hat badges! The badge is real but an attempt has been made to alter it to be a more expensive and much rarer badge by adding enamel to it.
Here is another altered badge for comparison. It also looks very new.
Here's an authentic badge for comparison.
Mick
ps
Other dodgy enamel badges also seen include the 49th Battalion (Stanley Regiment) and possibly an 11th Light Horse (VMR)