Simon,
I disagree, it looks as though it is still there, but you have the badge!
They are often polished smooth, as I believe the War Office stopped makers marking their badges, and it was probably easier to polish them smooth than to remove those already fitted?
The original plates are paper thin, quite often not neatly cut as are the Fake ones! The lettering is often very lightly struck, whereas on the copies it is often very deep. The genuine plates measure 8mm (wide) 3-4mm (high), the Fakes are often larger. The genuine plates have at least two layouts to the Font, on one the J.R.GAUNT and LONDON the same length and sit neatly above each other on the other style the LONDON is again below but slightly narrower and sits justified. On the Fake plates, which are often much thicker, the LONDON is wider than the J.R.GAUNT set above it!
Some genuine examples, the RE has been cleaned to aid photography!
Andy