Royal Artillery Officer´s sabretache plate

[Markus Bodeux]

Hello gentlemen,

i want to share the pics of this item with you, i bought it from a collector as a "helmet plate". I have had doubts about the screwposts on the reverse, no lugs, and a fellow collector friend confirmed that it is plate for an undress or "foul weather" sabretache.
From the reverse, it is realy ugly, the screwposts are cut down, except the two on top which have a ring to hang it up for display, and there is a lot of black "patina", may be shoecream from the leather (patent-leather) of the sabretache.

Otherwise i like the obverse , i guess it is fire-gild and so an officer´s item.
Interesting is the gun, a very small version with "spare wheel", and the small gun is separately soldered / brazed in between UBIQUE and the lower scroll.
The ramrod of the gun does not reach up to the UBIQUE scroll, there is a milimeter space between, and a piece of thread was used to make the conection.

For me a nice and collectable item, now in my small RA-drawer.
I guess this "construction" with the separate gun, was used for a multi-purpose-badge. The maker could use the single gun for other purposes, and also the plate could be used for other corps & departments, Engineers, Medicals ....

Any comments and opinions are welcome,
thanks for sharing
and kind regards
Markus