Mystery Indian cap badge

[AfrikaKorps64]

Hello everyone,

I have, what I believe to be, an Indian Army cap badge in white metal with the motto "Pasbani" in Urdu below crossed swords and a circular shield which has a five pointed star and five dots.
Pasbani translates to either "Guard" or "Guarding".
I have been unable to positively identify this badge for some time now and any information would be gratefully appreciated.
Aidan.

[peter monahan]

Interesting! The crossed scimitars behind a shiled is very like one of the princely states badges - 'States Forces', as they were known. However, the five pointed star is modern, I think. That combined with the very crude casting - bazaar made' is the usual term - makes me suspect that this is a fantasy piece made for the toursit trade, of which there are a good number for sale on the subcontinet.

I'll try to find out / remember which State Forces badge this resembles, as that may provide more clues.

Peter

[Khyber]

I think I have seen this one before, probably on ebay? Looks like a 'princely state' badge or maybe one of the Pakistan frontier militias post-1947.
But as Peter says, could well be a fantasy piece... quite a few if them around these days..

[peter monahan]

Originally Posted by Khyber

Looks like a 'princely state' badge or maybe one of the Pakistan frontier militias post-1947.

I must coinfess, I hadn't thought of the Frontier Corps units of Pakistan. There are, Wiki informs me, 35 of them now, some created as recently as 2015.

In the past I have seen badges this crude attributed to some of the Frontier militia/police units but was not convinced they weren't bazaar-made copies.

Good call, Khyber!

[Khyber]

Hi Peter..even now there area lot of Pakistani Frontier militia badges and shoulder titles on ebay from a Pakistani dealer...most of them tend to be badly made..the frontier militias have profilerated after 1947 and I think there are well over a dozen of them now..I had an excellent and extremely well made belt buckle to the Kurram Militia a couple of years ago but then gave it to Ashok as he did not have it in his collection..
The badge shown above is most likely one of the militias..I have McClenaghan and Heads 2-vols on princely states badges but am out of town so can't look..also a pain to go through 1000 pages them unless you have some clue on possible contenders..

[peter monahan]

Khyber

If it were SF or based on one, I want to say 'Bahwalpur', but that's pulled out of my 66-years-old-today memory, not a book.

OTOH, I'm tending more and more to agree with you that it's likely Pakistani militia. I once owned the pre=Partition badges, which were mostly nicely made, but I know that the current issues can be very crude. Sadly, the raely if ever make it to this side of gthe Atlantic, so I haven't seen many in a good while now.

[gurkharifles]

It's similar in design to the Pathan Regt of the Pakistan Frontier Force - I'm guessing it's one of the units that currently makes up the Frontier Corps .

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by gurkharifles

It's similar in design to the Pathan Regt of the Pakistan Frontier Force - I'm guessing it's one of the units that currently makes up the Frontier Corps .

Set of 4 badges on eBay including one for Pathan Regiment :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203705217...QAAOSwUCFf-Hcs


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