FN Type Devonshire Regiment Cap Badge

[Rob Miller]

I have just bought an FN type Devonshire Regiment Cap Badge with the "ENGLAND" MM Slider which has started me wondering about this badge in general.

I have searched the forum and it seems the "ENGLAND" marked sliders date from the late 1960s into the 1970s some time after the Devonshire Regiment became the Devon and Dorset Regiment so it must be a Fake or Restrike unless the slider has been replaced.

Here are the two for comparison.

[Rob Miller]

I also have a lugged version which could be early Edwardian or another Fake/Restrike.

Here it is compared to the first two.

[Rob Miller]

And here is a 1915 All GM badge which also appears like it could be from the same die.

[Sonofacqms]

Rob, these badges don't ever seem to have been produced in vast quantities like other fakes. Even in the 1960's they were never that prolific to my mind, maybe the people who made them were not that geared up to flood the market.
Of course they could have made lots of badges with loops instead of sliders marked "ENGLAND" which would have been harder to detect.

Rob

[Rob Miller]

I agree they are actually quite scarce, and maybe restrike is a better term in this case if the word "England" was intended to mark them out.

Its also possible that lugs don't always mean Victorian/Edwardian, a friend of mine had a box of Devonshire badges from West Buckland School and quite a few were lugged.

But all the above badges appear to be from the same dies, the question is how many of them are government issue?

Rob

[Alan O]

A lot of the England dies do seem to have used original dies and are therefore true restrikes. In the 1960s there was not the market/prices to justify making new dies up.

[Sonofacqms]

Alan,
I must say that back in the sixties cap badge and for that matter any other badge collecting was indeed a very minority interest, government surplus shops along with military tailors had a lot of original items for sale for pennies. (pre decimal with 240 to the pound).

I should have bought everything around, but apprenticeship money was low.

Hindsight is a luxury we can all afford.

Rob

[Rob Miller]

For completeness here is an example from the same dies with a plain slider or vertical shank. And some comparison pictures with the FN marked example.

[Rob Miller]

I have decided to try a poll on this subject, I have included the 4 types which could be genuine issue, Edwardian lugged, 1916 EI, Bi Metal FN marked, Bimetal non FN marked but I have not included the England marked example as it appears to be a known restrike.

If I have set it up correctly you can vote for any or all if you choose.

Thank you for taking the time to vote.

Rob

[Rob Miller]

Plenty of time to cast your votes, hopefully better options than a recent poll in the USA.

Here is another lugged example from my favourite online auction. The back was pretty manky when it arrived but its cleaned up OK, I like the bruising on some of the star tips, the front had been recently polished.

Rob

[Rob Miller]

Alan's work on OTC badges has had me wondering about the West Buckland School angle, is it possible that the lugged examples shown above were a 1960s private order for the School CCF?

Rob

[High Wood]

Originally Posted by Rob Miller

Plenty of time to cast your votes, hopefully better options than a recent poll in the USA.

Here is another lugged example from my favourite online auction. The back was pretty manky when it arrived but its cleaned up OK, I like the bruising on some of the star tips, the front had been recently polished.

Rob

A strange badge as the letters that make up SHIRE appear to be in a different sized font from THE DEVON REGIMENT.

[Rob Miller]

Another badge from the same dies, this time someone has had a go at enameling it as a brooch, but it still retains its lugs?

However it does appear to have age.

Rob