[SemperFi]

JT, I recently was examining the F.E. Woodward QRWS EI 1916 GM variant. It appears Woodward may have produced contemporary unmarked badges along with their MM version but it also looks like there possibly is a much later re-strike as well. The sliders look like they’re possibly the key to differentiating unmarked Woodwards from re-strikes.

Are your observations with the Woodward versions similar with mine above? Also if you have a BM MM Woodward or a similar BM unmarked Woodward version, do both or either have the die flaw on the reverse left scroll near its end?

I’ve thus far identified 7 QRWS EI variants, of which I have 5 (3 in hand & 2 enroute); your 2nd photo in your 11th post is an 8th example!

I’ve been working on ID’ing other EI variants as well and also noticed several EI dies have corresponding BM matches—Norfolk badges spring immediately to mind. Rather than BM badges coming after their EI counterparts as you suggested earlier, I’ve been theorizing the BM versions came first and their EI matches came afterward. My thoughts ran along this line of reasoning because of badge shortages and rising labor costs along with skilled labor shortages as the war progressed, i.e., it might have been quicker and less expensive for makers already in the business to use existing dies for EIs. However, rather and than a this or that scenario as we have respectively put forth, from a business’s perspective, using existing dies to tool up for EIs, later using those same dies to transition back to BMs when EIs were discontinued, and converting surplus stock makes the most economic sense where this was feasible for badges such as QRWS badges.

For entities that left this sector after the war, one could either expect BM versions were no longer produced from their EI dies or they sold or transferred their dies to entities that continued producing badges; additionally, they may have done similarly with any surplus stock. In other words if an entity kept their dies and surplus when they left the sector, then one could expect to not find those patterns postwar in BM. On the other hand, if there was a sale or transfer, then one could expect to find similar patterns in BM even though their original makers were no longer in the sector.

Cheers,
Jay