Officers King's Own Borderers SBP 1840

[Borderer]

Good afternoon Gentlemen and Ladies,

I am looking for some assistance in obtaining a Sphinx on a plinth bearing EGYPT in silver or white metal size 22mm wide and 16mm high.

I will explain why, I recently purchased a 25th Regiment of Foot The King's Own Borderers Officers Shoulder Belt Plate 1840, (illustrated) it is one of the most elaborate designed SBP to the regiment and quite rare, I have been searching for decades for one, so when this one came up for sale I jumped at the chance.

However, it was missing the Egyptian Sphinx on a Plinth bearing the word EGYPT.

I have attached two photographs the first my new purchase and the second one which is complete and held in the regimental museum which bears the Sphinx.

Any suggestions and help in sourcing one would be appreciated.

Warm wishes

Hiram

[Mike H]

That is a thing of beauty and a lot of skilled craftsmanship .
All i can suggest is to keep your eyes peeled for one. I presume you know what sort of fittings are on the back ? Being a Sphinx over Egypt it could well be listed as belonging to another regiment .

[magpie]

Absolutely stunning, thanks for sharing it

[Home Guard]

Yep, I agree, very nice indeed!!! Wish you luck in your search.

Terry

[Borderer]

Thanks Troops,

I was actually looking at the collar badges of the 24th SWB or their Blue Cloth helmet centre piece, as possible candidates but their sphinx's are too large and the fixing on the back would not be suitable, as it would have to be a singular hex fixing type and quite delicate, with a single hole type fixing, see attached photograph taken of the rear of my SBP.

If you look at the centre two holes on the plate, the upper hole secures the two ovals and the lower hole would take the sphinx, with single brass pin fastening, slides in from the top too hold both in place.

I will continue to search and hopefully something will turn up.

Cheers
Hiram

[grenadierguardsman]

Originally Posted by Borderer

Good afternoon Gentlemen and Ladies,

I am looking for some assistance in obtaining a Sphinx on a plinth bearing EGYPT in silver or white metal size 22mm wide and 16mm high.

I will explain why, I recently purchased a 25th Regiment of Foot The King's Own Borderers Officers Shoulder Belt Plate 1840, (illustrated) it is one of the most elaborate designed SBP to the regiment and quite rare, I have been searching for decades for one, so when this one came up for sale I jumped at the chance.

However, it was missing the Egyptian Sphinx on a Plinth bearing the word EGYPT.

I have attached two photographs the first my new purchase and the second one which is complete and held in the regimental museum which bears the Sphinx.

Any suggestions and help in sourcing one would be appreciated.

Warm wishes

Hiram

That is superb. If that was mine, I would find a jeweller to make what was missing, possibly ?
Andy

[norfolk regt man]

I have these, but only the brass one is the right size

[Fatherofthree]

Hiram.

That's a magnificent item.

Thanks for showing and wishing you well in the search for the missing piece.

Regards.

Beian

[Borderer]

Thank you Gentlemen for your kind words of appreciation on the piece.

Andy, thank you for showing me your spare sphinx's, just a pity the right size one is in bronze and facing the wrong way.

I have in the mean time made contact with a Scottish Jewellery Casting Company they are looking into producing a Sphinx for me, some more discussions to follow. I have sent them a photograph of my Plate and a Photo of a Complete Plate from the Regimental Museum, so will see how that pans out, I will keep members informed.

Warm Wishes
Hiram

[grenadierguardsman]

Originally Posted by Borderer

Thank you Gentlemen for your kind words of appreciation on the piece.

Andy, thank you for showing me your spare sphinx's, just a pity the right size one is in bronze and facing the wrong way.

I have in the mean time made contact with a Scottish Jewellery Casting Company they are looking into producing a Sphinx for me, some more discussions to follow. I have sent them a photograph of my Plate and a Photo of a Complete Plate from the Regimental Museum, so will see how that pans out, I will keep members informed.

Warm Wishes
Hiram

Great news.
Andy

[3dg]

Hope that comes up trumps for you.
A stunning item Hiram, thank you for sharing.
Cheers

Chris

[Mike H]

I found an image of one of these plates complete. Les Martin had one for sale .

[Borderer]

Good afternoon Gentlemen and ladies,

As promised here is an update on getting a Sphinx made for the Belt Buckle.

I was assisted by Gerry at the Regimental Museum to make a mould of the Sphinx illustrated on my initial post. As you can see, from the attached photograph, it has turned out very good with excellent detail, I made two of the front impression and one of the rear, the rear was done to illustrate the hex type fixing at the rear.

The compound I used to make the mould was Geded Siligum Moulding Compound purchased from Amazon for a few pounds, I watched a You Tub video on how to mix the compounds one white and the other blue in equal amounts all very simple and straight forward, once I had mixed and rolled the compound, I patted it flat and impressed the sphinx into it after 5 minuets, I removed the sphinx to reveal the impression.

I have since posted off the mould to the casting company to cast the sphinx in silver, once I have the finished sphinx back I will conclude the update.

Cheers
Hiram

[Alex Rice]

Fantastic, it will look amazing once complete.

[cbuehler]

Eye wateringly gorgeous! Certainly worth the effort to make the Sphinx for it.
The quality and design of this period is just superb.
CB