Hi Mike
I like your ideas and think that there's some good logical reasoning behind it. I'd more or less concluded that the "fire gilt" process and "best gilt" were different.
I would have thought that, with a war going one, whether something was "fire/ best gilt" would have been a mere detail...
Maybe they were worried about the Board of Trade taking them to task! Could also be that the contract specified that a certain process had to be used.
Interesting that my nickel plated badge carries the "fire gilt" backstamp.
Any comments on the enameled badge?
I'm sure that these nickeled/ enameled badges had some function to indicate seniority or status (foreman/ overlooker- an old mill term, I believe) if we but knew.
The theoretical difference between the enameled WMV and the plain one are a case in point.
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