Unusual RTR Beret Badge - Officers ??

[oc14]

Recently picked up this (to me unusual) RTR beret badge for my collection. Appears to be die cast rather than die struck. Pictured alongside a standard RTR badge for comparison. Not seen one like this before , any ideas ? officers ? private purchase or ?

Thank in advance

PL

[hagwalther]

Originally Posted by oc14

Recently picked up this (to me unusual) RTR beret badge for my collection. Appears to be die cast rather than die struck. Pictured alongside a standard RTR badge for comparison. Not seen one like this before , any ideas ? officers ? private purchase or ?

Thank in advance

PL

Hi Paul,

I would not say that it was die cast but die forged. The other badge is die stamped. The difference between the two methods is the length of time of the strike due to the thickness of the badge material used.

Viz: thin badges are die stamped and thick badges die forged which can either be hot or cold dependant on the type of metal used.

Die cast badge are made form a molten metal and can be die cast open or die cast closed. Die cast open usually have a rough rear surface with craters while die cast closed have a cast line around the edge of the badge.

Die cast badges in the areas I study are invariably fakes/repros.

Regards,

Chris

[fearnaught]

Hi Paul, this badge is a bit of a conundrum. The front is a typical JR Gaunt officer's badge but the rear is more like a Firmin badge but not exactly. At a guess it is modern as I do have a suspect Q.C badge again with a similar back. I would think it was made using the Gaunt die and a Firmin back which would be available to the successor company any time after their amalgamation. This is pure conjecture on my part and may very well be wrong. I've included photo's of both the Gaunt and Firmin badges and the back of the Q.C badge, hope this helps best wishes Mike

[oc14]

Thanks for the responses Chris and Mike. A couple of interesting thought lines there. In real life the badge appears to have the remains of a "frosted silver" type finish. I'm pretty happy that it has some age about it. Sadly I may never actually identify exactly what it is, oh well back into the box with my other RTR bits until I get round to sorting them for display (gota few other bits that I'd like to acquire before then !)

Thank again.

Paul

[fearnaught]

Hi Paul, the frosted silver finish is fairly modern, I think, maybe some one could say when it came into vogue? I thought it was in the 80's or maybe 90's, best wishes Mike