Spotted what I thought was a gold hallmarked Women's Section badge and snapped it up ! Didn't really check the details or the actual hallmark but later on had a good look and discovered it is "Silver Gilt".
From Assay Office site :
- The term ‘Silver gilt’ may be used to describe gold plated silver, providing a specific gold fineness is not applied as part of the description e.g. silver gilt ring.
- The gold plated layer must be of fineness of at least 375 parts per thousand and should not exceed 2 microns in thickness.
It is a really nice badge but it got me wondering if this was an "economy" version of the 'Gold Award' badge ?
While a Branch may have wanted to reward a member for their service they may not have wanted/been able to spend the funds required for a solid gold badge.
The "British Legion Memorabilia" website lists the manufacturer ( B.H.C. & Co ) as a maker of gold badges in 1980 , my 'gilt' badge is hallmarked 1978 so perhaps they also were 'fooled' ?
I have a later WS "Golden Award" badge which is not gold or even gilt but simply gold tone , so perhaps the habit of solid gold badges is dying out ?
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