Suspect Uppingham OTC Badge

['Ticker' Riley]

I recently purchased the Uppingham OSD badge below, however I was a little dubious before I got it as the colouration looked a bit odd in the photos on e-bay:

When it arrived I was even more concerned as the front looked to be quite yellow on the raised areas, such as along the letters in the bottom ‘Uppingham’ title, and the back seemed to have too much verdigris, which looked as though it had possibly been deliberately applied. As I was not happy that the badge was genuine, I quickly returned it for a refund, but seeing the one on another thread here I am now having second thoughts!?

Like the one badgecollector posted to the other thread, the badge I bought had an overlaid ‘Uppingham’ scroll, though it did not seem to have the distinct traces of the word ‘Leicestershire’ showing through on the back as that one does. As I have already said, the one I had had a yellowish colouring in parts, which was actually even more pronounced on the back beneath all the verdigris, whereas badgecollector’s one looks to be the nice brown colour you would expect an OSD badge to be. My question is - have I been over hasty in sending this badge back, or was I right to be suspicious that it was probably not an original Uppingham OSD? Any thoughts or comments on things would be gratefully received - many thanks.

Regards

Martin

[Keith Blakeman]

Originally Posted by 'Ticker' Riley

I recently purchased the Uppingham OSD badge below, however I was a little dubious before I got it as the colouration looked a bit odd in the photos on e-bay:

When it arrived I was even more concerned as the front looked to be quite yellow on the raised areas, such as along the letters in the bottom ‘Uppingham’ title, and the back seemed to have too much verdigris, which looked as though it had possibly been deliberately applied. As I was not happy that the badge was genuine, I quickly returned it for a refund, but seeing the one on another thread here I am now having second thoughts!?

Like the one badgecollector posted to the other thread, the badge I bought had an overlaid ‘Uppingham’ scroll, though it did not seem to have the distinct traces of the word ‘Leicestershire’ showing through on the back as that one does. As I have already said, the one I had had a yellowish colouring in parts, which was actually even more pronounced on the back beneath all the verdigris, whereas badgecollector’s one looks to be the nice brown colour you would expect an OSD badge to be. My question is - have I been over hasty in sending this badge back, or was I right to be suspicious that it was probably not an original Uppingham OSD? Any thoughts or comments on things would be gratefully received - many thanks.

Regards

Martin

It's an interesting thread and I'm suprised no-one has commented yet so here goes.

I have some similar objects also to an OTC both Cranleigh. The looped badge has an overlaid scroll over an all brass back. Why, as being blackened it could easily have been a single stamp? The second has an overlaid scroll over a Queens all brass. I can only put the reason down to economy with these badges privately sourced and the supplier using exisiting dies where possible (or pulling a fast one on the college!) rather than making a unique die. I think I also have a similar example to a collar size Charterhouse OTC, again a Queens cadet unit so maybe this was common practice where the parent regiment's badge could be utilized.

[badjez]

Ticker,
I'm afraid I'm going to muddy the water more, but here goes.

I've checked all my Uppingham OTC badges and none, bar one, show the Leicestershire stamping. The one that does is the OTC version with the laurels replacing Hindoostan.

Upon checking my 2 piece bi-metal Leics Regt badges I found that none of them (Regular or TA) have the Leicestershire reverse stamping either. To compound this they all have braze holes.

I do have Uppingham OTC in some very strange colours, including one with braze holes that is bronzed with a cleaned GM Uppingham scroll!

My conclusion- that none of my badges appear to be the basis for the OTC badge; that my OTC with laurel may now be suspect; I may have to find OTC badges with Leicestershire stampings 'just in case'; OTC badges were a rule unto themselves.

Does anyone have a Leicestershire Regt badge with the Leicestreshire reverse stamping?

Regards, Stephen.

[orasot]

Hi Stephen, Have a look in Magpie's Boer War album, his Leicestershire has the reverse stamping with sweat holes, cheers,
Wilf.

['Ticker' Riley]

I am very grateful indeed for all responses that have been made to this thread. It was most interesting to read about your OTC badges Keith, and I personally think you may well be on to something about manufactures applying overlaid titles to the existing badges of related regiments to possibly cut down on costs. Presumably the demand for OTC badges would have been much less when compared with their associated regiments, and so utilising badges/dies for these regiments with the addition of an overlaid scroll for small orders would make sense.

I was also very interested to read about your collection of Uppingham badges Stephen, and how only one has traces of the ‘Leicestershire’ stamping on the back. In my original post I wasn’t suggesting that this was a pre-requisite of any badge being a genuine Uppingham one, merely that the one badgecollector put up to the other thread did have this but that by contrast the one I bought didn’t. I suppose such traces of the word ‘Leicestershire’ on the back of an Uppingham badge, or indeed a Leicesters one, is actually more likely to be connected to the force involved in the stamping process than anything else. Whether or not this, in turn, could be an indication of changes in machinery, and therefore a possible age of a badge, or simply the way the stamping machine was set up, I really don’t know?

I dare say your Uppingham badges are fine Stephen, even if you do have them in a variety of colours. I was concerned about the yellowish colour of mine in parts, because whilst this was in the places you would expect to have wear, it didn’t look like genuine wear to me but more like someone had deliberately tried to imitate it. The other thing was all that verdigris on the back, which I thought looked as though it had been applied with a brush, and again a yellow colour in places. I was suspicious mine had been tampered with, hence why I sent it back, but when I saw badgecollector’s Uppingham, and the similarities in construction if not in colouration, I then started to have second thoughts. Was the one I had had a genuine Uppingham after all? Had it just been made to look older than it was for some reason? I’m still not sure. I think I really need to try and see some more examples if I can, but it may well be I was too hasty in returning the badge in question – ah well, c’est la via! Anyway, many thanks again for all the postings chaps, and if anyone else has further comments please do put them up.

Best regards

Martin

[Alan O]

To resurrect this thread the OTC badges that I have seen have a laurel wreath scroll over the top. These are the correct ones for the OTC period. The OTC badge was in all bronze and in 1936 EJ Martin recorded that the top scroll had been removed and the tiger and lower scroll remained in a Bz finish.

This badge is a modern one made for the CCF.

[Alan O]

If you go to my CCF album you will see 2 examples of the Uppingham CCF badge. Both are identical from the same die with a blurred Leicestershire imprint on the reverse. The all bronze finish is the one worn by the CFF today. The bi-metal one has more age but I would still say it is post war-CCF and not the OTC.