Victorian Black Watch SNCO's Cap Badge

[Paddy]

Hello All

I have got the badge pictured below down as a Victorian Black Watch SNCO's Cap Badge but would like that confirmed and also opinions as to whether it is genuine or a copy. Parts of the badge appear well made but the gilding metal centre section looks to have a few small casting flaws. Opinions and verdicts welcome.

Paddy

[grenadierguardsman]

The lettering on the word " highlanders " is of shocking quality imho. I couldn't say if its genuine or fake though ?
Andy

[Fatherofthree]

I like it, albeit there is the odd bad casting and the letters of Highlanders, but it also has a lot of good points going for it.

Reason for the poor bits and pieces may well be nothing more than a worn die.

Regards.

Brian

[cbuehler]

Strange. Not like any fake that I have seen, nor is it like any genuine one I have seen.

CB

[Alan O]

I do not believe that is the quality of a period item and would pass if offered to me.

[Luke H]

NCO items aren’t my bag, but I do know with BW they wore QVC beyond the Victorian period. However, those loops look decidedly much modern to my eyes.

I’m sure Ron will have a definitive answer.

[dubaiguy]

Very enterprising and creative. Certainly something I've never seen before.

From your photos it appears that the centre and two slots have been very crudely cut from a w/m OR's badge. A brass stamping of the central motif has then been slotted on top of the existing detail along with a separate St Andrew. I'm presuming that all this mess doesn't fit together too snugly?

Added to this the w/m base also has very poor reverse detail and it has what looks like round footed lugs.

Ignoring the lugs, in a way it reminds me of those 'awful' badges with Vic crowns such as the East Surreys that were produced by erstwhile metal fittings companies in the First World War. If not one of those, then I would say it's a very enterprising fake.

[Alex Rice]

Have the backs of the scrolls been filled with some sort of solder to make the plate look more like a casting or are the scrolls overlaid? If they are filled, somebody has done that to fool people into think it is cast.
I do question where the brass overlay came from though, because the BW didn't have brass badges. The brass and St Andrew are not too bad quality really and the St Andrew doesn't have appear to have rough edges to show it was cut from another badge, it looks purpose made. Maybe somebody matched a genuine centre with a QVC badge?
Cheers,
Alex

[Alan O]

Alex

The Canadian BW badges were brass.

Alan

[Alex Rice]

I have seen Canadian KC badges, were there also QVC ones in brass? Do the edges of the brass overlay look like they have been hand cut?
Cheers,
Alex

[rmarsden]

I don’t like it and think it is a fake.
Ron.

[Paddy]

Gents

Many thanks for all your comments. Personally I like the badge and it does fit together quite well but I can see that the back plate looks like an OR’s plate with 2 slots cut out. Rather than being filled in with solder it looks like the scrolls have been ground down, for what reason I do not know. The brass overlay is pretty crudely cast with a few casting flaws in it. All in all, much as I like the way it looks and feels I will file it in the fake.copy section.

Paddy