Hi James and Mike
I like your reasoning and think that you may have a good point there. That there are more than a few out there AND that they seem to more or less follow a similar colour scheme would point towards some special distinction (a la "did his/her bit" badges).
My badge has a "half moon" clip and the example Mike shows is a pin back. The rule of thumb that I was told to work to is that most pin backs are for wear by women (borne out by the name scratched on the back of the badge) and that the lapel fitting is for a man.
Mind you, I do have badges with the lapel fitting removed (with varying degrees of skill...) and a pin back put in its place.
As most of these standard COW badges were numbered (many times as we have seen!), the fact that the enameled versions are not would suggest that they no longer had a "work" function but were worn as "symbols of services rendered".
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