Quote:
Originally Posted by lettman
Looking through W.Y. Carman's Glengarry Badges of the British Line Regiments to 1881, it's interesting to note the various ways he describes their appearance. Most he calls 'brass', as we have come to expect the manufacture of genuine pre-1881 badges. But a number are described otherwise: 'gilding metal' (e.g. 30th Foot); 'gilt metal' (e.g. 20th Foot); 'copper-brass' (e.g. 34th Foot); 'yellow-copper' (e.g. 63rd Foot); 'copperish' (65th Foot); 'brass-copper' (e.g. 92nd Foot); and so forth.
This raises a number of questions, which probably can't be satisfactorily answered now with the passage of time, but which are worth consideration. For example, did the collection(s) Carman examined contain restrikes? Was gilding metal substituted for brass at some (later?) stage in the manufacture of glengarry badges? Was there a considerable variation in the quality of the brass alloy used? No doubt there are other questions and issues involved, and I'm interested to see the opinions and thoughts of Forum members on this topic.
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I replied to this thread in between the server up date and it appears to have went AWOL?
Anyway while carrying-out research for my new book, 'Badges and Insignia of The King's Own Scottish Borderers', I came across the term 'Yellow Brass', this type of brass was used prior to 1883, which gives the badge a gold appearance, not to be confused with gilt.
I have such a badge in my collection, the 1874-1887 Other Ranks Glengarry undress Pattern Cap Badge see attached, with the lugs N and S.
As we all know headdress badges changed with the introduction of new design and type of headdress and were designed to fit as such. However, with Regiments and Corps scattered around the glob and the slow output by Ordinance units occasionally used local skilled trades people to produce the new badges or insignia to adorn the new headdress. Moreover, with the array of different manufactures used by Ordinance to produces the approved pattern badges and Insignia in the UK, there was a wide mix and grade of metals used by these companies.
With the passage of time and the lack of documentation, I do not suppose that we will ever get a definitive answer, on this very valuable question, but is that not, what Military Badge Collection is all about, along with the thirst for knowledge and doing the research on a particular piece. Treasures do appear, be it a badge or a bit of insignia or even valuable piece of documentation, we keep looking and sharing.
Cheers
Hiram