There were three articles on the subject of cord bosses nearly 40 years ago.
Mortensen, I, 1980 (March), The Cord Boss as a head-dress badge, Crown Imperial, 24-27
Mortensen, I, 1980 (June), More Cord Bosses. Crown Imperial, 22.
Mortensen, I, 1981 (June), … And a few more cord bosses, Crown Imperial, 5
There was a short introduction that gave a history dating from the Napoleonic wars, but my own interest is from 1881.
However, he didn't make any distinction between officers and other ranks, nor between round and oval. In the end he listed every type he could find which is a useful compendium - I remember only a couple of mistaken identities.
For Vol/ TF Bns they were worn on the full dress busby; officers usually had an oval boss with a crown on - often acompanied it below by a metal bugle. ORs had small oval boss. Officers wore small bosses on service caps.
Here are a some of my own; 2VB KLR, OR; OR 5TF Bn KLR busby at top with generic oval badge; 8TF Bn KLR officers badge.
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