Hi Mike, all interesting and possible possibilities (if that makes sense!)
I lean towards the safety aspect, especially for the standard brass, be it made or modified. The gilt sharp edge ones and the nickel plated ones may be a factory foreman indication, may be a late war/post war private purchase for civilian wear, (like the men's 1915 ones which turn up nickel plated and even chromed) or it may be something completely different...
Below, just for comparison, I have listed the vital statistics of mine:
1) Gaunt Brass 10.5g
2) Gaunt Gilt 9.9g
3) Gaunt Nickel 10.5g
4) Gaunt Rounded 11.1g
5) Wylie Brass 10.8g
6) Wylie Nickel 11.5g
DumDum, if you have a turned down example, I'd love to see it. One probably not that significant fact, is the Gaunt gilt badge is slightly vaulted - looking at it, it's been done post manufacture.
Cheers, Tim
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