RNF OSD Officers Cap Badge.

[cbuehler]

Interesting effort there. I am not quite sure I understand the necessity of having a badge with apparently no evidence of having been worn, with only one possible genuine example?


CB

[thursdaychris]

I'm afraid that you've lost me there, somewhere, CB, all that was needed was a gapfiller that did actually look the part. I now have that, it has been made from a genuine RNF badge, so I can tell myself that it is just a conversion, and not some sort of fake.

I still have a gap in that part of my collection, and as I'm not having any luck filling that one either, another conversion is planned. This next one not quite so drastic, the plan is to convert the brooched silver/gilt badge shown in post #2, back to it's original state, sort of!

I hope to cut off the brooch fittings and grind everything flush, including the stumps of the original loops. I can't apply any heat without destroying the finish, so I'm thinking of soldering a couple of replacement copper loops onto small copper discs. These can then be Araldited into position, this isn't really ideal, of course, but much better than having brooch fittings, I think.

[Parabellum]

Chris,
Here is one, off an internet site.
Blades on the flames.
Neil.

[3dg]

Originally Posted by Parabellum

Chris,
Here is one, off an internet site.
Blades on the flames.
Neil.

That's four, Denis Wood has one in his collection as well, plus I've seen another in a private collection.
I personally, would have left a gap, I wouldn't have destroyed a perfectly good cap badge.
That's just my opinion though.
I do believe though, as stated in Denis Woods book, they were issued, but possibly only to Home Guard units, possibly cadet units, either way, few and far between, the rest were probably binned as they were discontinued.
Chris

[magpie]

Aren't most officers badges privately purchased items, I thought they started issuing them in the 50's

[thursdaychris]

Many thanks for your thoughts, chaps, I am really quite pleased to hear that there is actually more than one of these RNF OSD badges around. However, I somehow don't think that any of them will be coming my way, anytime, soon. I must say, though, that the suggestion that I have destroyed a perfectly good badge seems a little bit harsh, the badge is fine, it has merely been repurposed!

[Alan O]

Thoughts?

[thursdaychris]

That is a very nice pre 1935 NF OSD cap badge, Alan, much the same as the one that I have.

[cbuehler]

Originally Posted by Alan O

Thoughts?

A good NF OSD badge. Can't tell if it is a collar or cap without the reverse though. The nice broad flames type.

CB

PS, likely an earlier example as well.

[thursdaychris]

Hello Chaps,

Painfully slow progress with the NF silver/gilt badge, I'm afraid, I had decided to go for one of the two brooched pieces that Steven Bosley listed, one of which is shown in post #2, and convert this back to it's original loops. I sent the money off and sadly, a week later, it transpired that there never ever had been two of these badges, the same badge had been listed twice!

So, I then had to revert to Plan B, I bought a rather scabby looking OSD badge from Colin Mathews, this had lost much of it's bronze finish, which was no problem as I fully intended to remove the rest of it. This, I have now done, and polished the badge all over after carefully removing the St George and the Dragon overlay.

I have today received the nickel anodes that I ordered, and I'm now awaiting the arrival of 20% white vinegar. I can then nickel plate the overlay, before carefully fitting it back onto the badge. If all goes as planned, this gapfiller might well become a permanent fixture, K&K state that the grenade on the Officers cap badge can be gilt or gilding metal, and the fixing, never mind, this could be whatever the Officer wanted it to be!

[thursdaychris]

I have now completed the nickel plating procedure, and I'm fairly confident that I have now made myself a pretty good substitute for the Northumberland Fusiliers officers silver/gilt cap badge. The real thing seems to be almost unobtainable, and the ORs badges of this regiment are just not the same, of course, so as with the RNF bronze badge, thinking outside the box became necessary. I've not done any metal plating before, but I have discovered that it's a very simple process. I've attached several pics of my nickel plating arrangement, I could have done this with silver, of course, but I thought that might be overdoing it a little bit, plus considerably more expensive! I've also just noticed that the circlet and St George and the Dragon could do with a bit of a polish, it has come out of the nickel acetate plating solution a little dull looking.

[Luke H]

I genuinely don’t mean this in a disrespectful way or with the intention of starting a pile on but it seems a bit of a shame an intact albeit tired looking OSD in an original state has now (if I understand correctly) been quite significantly modified to superficially appear like something it never was.

Understand this is in lieu of obtaining a scarce badge, but for me the hunt is part of the fun. I would gain no satisfaction from making up my most sought after badges.

It also presents the problem of what will future collectors make of it once it has changed hands several times and associated story lost in decades to come.

No malice at all intended, just to say this is not something I would have done.

Best of luck with your search for a true S&G example.

[Keith Blakeman]

Originally Posted by Luke H

I genuinely don’t mean this in a disrespectful way or with the intention of starting a pile on but it seems a bit of a shame an intact albeit tired looking OSD in an original state has now (if I understand correctly) been quite significantly modified to superficially appear like something it never was.

Understand this is in lieu of obtaining a scarce badge, but for me the hunt is part of the fun. I would gain no satisfaction from making up my most sought after badges.

It also presents the problem of what will future collectors make of it once it has changed hands several times and associated story lost in decades to come.

No malice at all intended, just to say this is not something I would have done.

Best of luck with your search for a true S&G example.

I'm with Luke here, I've had gaps in my collection for donkeys years, that's the way it goes.

Would you a stick a photocopy of a rare Pokemon card onto a common one if you collected them?

[Alan O]

That;s exactly what Professor Charles Thomas did with the OTC ones he did not have! His OTC collection was probably the most comprehensive I have seen.

[Luke H]

Originally Posted by Alan O

That;s exactly what Professor Charles Thomas did with the OTC ones he did not have! His OTC collection was probably the most comprehensive I have seen.

A good idea I first noted in the Charles Thomas collection sale.

When I mount my collection this is probably the approach I’ll take for any lingering gaps.