Mine Clearance Service (cuff badge)

Evening All,

I know the MCS badge has been discussed here reasonably recently, but thought I would post this recent acquisition for scrutiny.

All comments appreciated.

With thanks,

Peter.

MCS1.jpgMCS2.jpgMCS3.jpg

[wright241]

Its a bit hard to see the detail on the picture you have posted. But if you would like to compare it with this one, they do look reasonably similar. You will see a better and larger image of it if you open it up in my album.
http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ictureid=25039

Thanks for the link, David - I presume you have tried clicking on the images I posted, in order to enlarge them?

Peter.

One very subtle difference I have noticed between the various examples I have come across with this badge, is the rope tethers depicted hanging from the mine itself.

On some badges, the tethers appear almost beaded, whereas on others, they are more rope-like in their design (please see attachment).

Any views on this, at all?

MCS.JPG

REFRESH THREAD

[wright241]

Originally Posted by Peter J

One very subtle difference I have noticed between the various examples I have come across with this badge, is the rope tethers depicted hanging from the mine itself.

On some badges, the tethers appear almost beaded, whereas on others, they are more rope-like in their design (please see attachment).

Any views on this, at all?

Attachment 32296

Will check mine and let you know when I get back to Lux in December

Thanks, David. This seems to be the only variation I have noticed in the examples I've seen to date - there may be others, of course.

Cheers,

PJ

[RCN]

Here is the MCS badge I have:

RCN,

Thanks for this - interesting to see another rope-type version.

Do you have any thoughts on the two variations?

PJ

[RCN]

Here are some better shots of my MCS badge PJ:

It appears to be the "rope" variety. I have had a couple more of these badges in the past but never thougth to look for this variation. This example came with his WWI medals, so I am assuming its good.

The "beaded" verion could represent the cable that held the mine below the surface, these in the day would have been chain cables rather than rope.

I think the difference in cable types would be from different manufacturers of the badge.

Bryan

Originally Posted by RCN

I think the difference in cable types would be from different manufacturers of the badge.

Bryan,

I completely agree with you about makers' variations. I would also say that as such, these differences would not necessarily be an indication of a badge's authenticity or dubiety. Would you agree?

Have you ever seen one with a maker's mark, Bryan?

Cheers,

PJ

[RCN]

No makers mark on reverse that I can see. Did they have makers marks??

I tried to find the original topic on the MCS badge but no luck. Reason for this was I seem to recall some discussion of there being a die crack in the later badges produced, & this crack was noticable on some badges to the lower left of the mine as you are looking at the badge. I thought some mention of that might have been in the original topic.

& I think there was discussion about this badge being repro'd also.

Bryan

Not seen one with maker's mark before - thought you might have.

As for the 'crack'; I know that badges bearing the so-called 'line fault' running across the face from top left to bottom right (as you look at it) is a sign of an accepted fake. This is not to say that other fakes/copies etc. necessarily have this characteristic.

PJ

[RCN]

I have seen that crack PJ but I thought it was somewhat lower.

& I had an example few yrs back it was really black, indicating there must be some silver in the badges??

I thought they were made out of white metal,

The one I showed above has some toning on the rev.


Bryan

Originally Posted by RCN

I have seen that crack PJ but I thought it was somewhat lower.

Bryan,

Until one or two days ago, there were a couple of these badges with the fault I referred to above, for sale on a certain auction site. The line ran top to bottom in the manner I mentioned previously. However, right now there are others for sale (not on the same site) which bear the mark you have pointed out. Seems that even faults have faults!

Cheers,