WYR Cap Badges - Manufacturer

[DavidSH]

I have a WYR cap badge (I hope I've attached 2 photographs): -
- ‘silver’ horse piece (upper)
- brass “West Yorkshire” piece (lower)
- 2 eyelets for fixing the badge to the cap
- upper and lower pieces are joined with 2 tiny rivets (i.e. not soldered or brazed)
- the digit ‘4’ is stamped onto the rear of both component parts

I’m hoping you may be able to help me with information about the likely place of manufacturer/ year of manufacture of a particular cap badge.
To the best of my (very limited) knowledge this badge was manufactured between 1898 and ~1914. It would help in a family history mystery to know more about this badge.

I’ve been told by a staff member at the Regimental museum in York that: -
(i) he’d never seen this method of joining the 2 pieces
(ii) in WW1 the bright silver horses were bronzed to make them less noticeable
(iii) the use of eyelets to fix a badge to a cap was changed to the use of a slide during WW1

Questions
(i) Does the use of rivets to join the upper and lower parts reveal anything about where/ when it was made?
(ii) The digit ‘4’ has been stamped onto both the upper and lower components – does this mean anything?
(iii) Given that the horse on this badge is bright silver, could it have been bronzed and then have had the bronzing removed after the war?
(i.e. Or do you think it was never bronzed?)
(iv) Is it definitely an officer’s badge or do I need to have the metal of the horse checked to see if it is silver?

Thanks
David (new member)