Australian Rising sun Medical badge - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

derekx · #1 24-02-12, 11:00 PM

I just noticed a badge on eBay described as "Commonwealth Horse Medical Service" (item 120863502790), and seems to be a rising sun variant with a red cross in the centre. I can't find any reference to a Light Horse medical service other than the field ambulances, so I'm assuming it's an unofficial sub-unit badge. It looks genuine, or a damned good aged copy.
Can anyone shed light on this interesting piece?

slick_mick · #2 24-02-12, 11:25 PM

It's nothing to do with the Commonwealth Horse for starters.

It's a collar badge for the Australian Division of the British Red Cross Society - an unofficial World War 1 badge.

Mick

slick_mick · #3 25-02-12, 12:01 AM

Here's a picture of the badge.

derekx · #4 26-02-12, 11:13 AM

Thank you Mick, good advice as always.
Regards, DKB

slick_mick · #5 26-02-12, 11:09 PM

Tell you what, it got some attention!

Sold for GBP 594.76.

Yikes!

Mick

kingsley · #6 27-02-12, 11:02 AM

The Australian War Memorial has a uniform with similar (but different) badges. It is a rising sun with a red cross in the centre but the scroll is quite different.

derekx · #7 27-02-12, 12:02 PM

A hell of a lot of money for a red cross badge. Hopefully the buyer realised what they were bidding for.
Kingsley, do you have a link for the image of that War Memorial uniform? Sounds interesting.

vigilans · #8 28-02-12, 07:18 AM

I would say it attracted a lot of attention (and bids) because it is a rising sun, and quite scarce. IMO it's really a 500-600 (AU) dollar badge -Geoff