Hello all,
i have just added this helmet plate to my small Corps & Departments collection.
Following K&K it is a helmet plate for OR of the Military Foot and Mounted Police,KK1027, worn from 1885 until 1902 with a red cloth backing. The obverse showed small areas with booming verdigris, and i hat to remove the green salty verdigris to stop the process of corrosion. I guess this helmet plate is not very common and i am glad to have it in my drawer !
I have found some more helmet plates with the VR cypher in center, so for example for the Corps of Military Schoolmasters, and for a Militia-Battalion of the Glamorgan Militia (Westlake "British Home Service Helmet" page 106) but with the cypher in wm/silver.
So i conclude, this can only be the one for Military (Foot&Mounted) Police.
Hope you like it also, any comments welcome,
kind regards
Markus