[Toby Purcell]

I’m sure that what you say will be of interest to collectors, Luke, and I understand why people who invest large amounts of money in a particular piece take great interest in what is or is not a fake. Personally I’m just a historian of uniform and it’s associated insignia and confine my studies to regimental museum collections, old photographs, quality paintings, regimental records, dress regulations, Army Orders, Army Council Instructions and other, documentary evidence. It is from those sources that I provided the information in my post. I leave it to the reader to decide if they find it of relevance according to their particular interest.

It’s important to note that the number of genuine badges will have been very small. First there were not that many officers in a regiment at a particular time. Second the coloured forage cap was only introduced circa 1904 and no badge at all was worn on it until after WW1, although different, plain metal badges were worn on drab service dress, which has caused confusion to those who do/did not understand that. Third, King George V died fairly soon after the badges were introduced, reducing further the number with his cypher. Fourth, King Edward VIII abdicated soon after his succession and again very few badges were made. Fifth, there were only a few years of the peace in which such enameled badges were required before war broke out again and service dress only, worn for the duration.

After both world wars it took some time before full pomp and circumstance returned and Britain after WW2 was economically depressed so that it was not until the 1950s that things began to return to normal. Soon after that King George VI died, so again there were relatively few badges with his cypher. Sixth, it was only in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, our longest reigning monarch, that there was a long enough period for significant numbers of enameled badges to exist. By then 1st and 2nd LG had long before merged (1922). In 1961 1st Dragoons and the Royal Horse Guards merged, all events that had an effect on numbers of badges.

Overall then it has to be remembered that such specialised badges, worn for a specific purpose, on a particular item of dress, don’t exist in a vacuum and have to be considered in the context of the times in which they existed.