Thank you to everybody that has commented, my take on the faulty/damaged die and that's what I would call it it doesn't look worn as such, but has small parts of the circle broken out' if used with the wrong grade or gauge of metal a new die will quickly fail at it's weak points and with a contract to fill a new die cannot be produced next day if in addition to that the regiment has only just formed it's not just a case of rejecting a batch that would just be put on the shelf, because my badge has loops as do the badges in Keith's link I would think they fit the idea being early in the regiments history perhaps the box full was rejected when the need was not so pressing and the slidered examples arrived.
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