Middlesex Regiment - "Cleaned" OSD Cap Badge?

[leigh kitchen]

Opinions on this one please, an acid bathed OSD cap badge or a fake of some kind?

[cbuehler]

Looks to be a perfectly good OSD badge. I think it was never bronzed in the first place. I have seen several such badges over the years and they show no evidence of having been cleaned. I think it is just an unfinished badge.

CB

[leigh kitchen]

Thanks - it has almost a gilt finish, I suppose similar to that on Other Ranks new condition gilding metal badges.

[KLR]

Surely (genuine) OSD badges were made of "bronze", not something or other "bronzed" (as in base metal bronzed / plated such as Household Cavalry and Yeomanry badges) !?

[magpie]

If you had two raw OSD's one bronze the other gilding metal you probably wouldn't see any notable difference, the bronze colour is just a decorative coating.

[cbuehler]

I do not know what the processes were to make "bronze" badges, but the large variation in shades from near black to dull brass certainly indicates differing ones.
I would guess that some were actually bronze metal that was given a chemical process to darken them, while others used some kind of coating, possibly not on bronze metal, but perhaps something closer to gilding metal.

CB

[Frank Kelley]

My opinion, based solely upon the photographs, would be a very nice example in very good near mint condition with quite some age to it.

Originally Posted by leigh kitchen

Opinions on this one please, an acid bathed OSD cap badge or a fake of some kind?

[leigh kitchen]

Thank you chaps.