So Mike’s comment that this item looked like a sand casting got me thinking. The one replica of the Officers Field cap badge we know about can be found in the 1967 Commemorative set. In looking at the small flaws in this copper casting, I do see similarities which suggest that in fact, this die is related to the 1967 replica set. I’ll illustrate one of the more obvious flaws I see which connect the two. It’s visible in the motto portion of the badge.
The top of the first picture below is a close-up of the copper badge of this topic, and below is the replica commemorative from the 1967 set. The 2nd image is of an original. Note that the lower portion of the scroll is missing from both the copper and replica examples. Whether the badge in question is the exact piece used for the commemorative set or just one of the sample castings in the overall process is hard to definitely prove but I think this presents a good argument for the connection of these badges. Exactly why one would want to make a copper duplicate still isn’t really clear to me.
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