de-zincing
Looks like a case of 'de-zincification'. We see it a lot in Canadian badges, since there are a lot of 'dug' badges floating about (post war and in the 60s, DND discarded a swack of surplus badges by mixing them with concrete and burying them, or just burying them). The zinc in the alloy leeches out, leaving the copper to show. In brass badges, it's bright, coppery areas, but in white metal badges in can be anything from a slight pink cast to quite pronounced. My guess is this is a dug badge of some sort & it's not the result of cleaning.
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David S.
The fog of war should not extend into writing about war.
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