23rd Battalion London Regiment

[High Wood]

A recently purchased cap badge which I now believe to be a poor quality fake.

[High Wood]

Firstly, the badge is as flat as a pancake and could only reasonably be worn on a field service cap. So from any time between 1908 and the introduction of the peaked service cap before the Great War and between the reintroduction of the F.S.C. after the Great War, (possibly 1930's as I am not sure exactly when the F.S.C. was reintroduced) and 1938 when they became the 42nd Royal tank Corps and wore the R.T.C. badge. The original cap badge was reintroduced in 1956 with a Queen's crown.

[High Wood]

Secondly, the poor quality of the letters and numbers within the circlet. Note the faults around the letters S, O, U and H and the poor definition of the F, C and A. Note the odd position of the 2, which is at an odd angle to the edges of the circlet.

[High Wood]

Note the distorted 3 and the too large gap between the B and the N and the T of REGt squeezed in at the end of the middle section of the title scroll.

[Frank Kelley]

Agreed, a glance at the reverse is very telling.

Originally Posted by High Wood

A recently purchased cap badge which I now believe to be a poor quality fake.

[High Wood]

Several forum members appear to have identical badges in their albums. I am wondering if the genuine 23rd Battalion London Regiment badges have the honour South Africa 1900-02 rather than the South Africa 1900-2. Food for thought.

[mike_vee]

IWM description :
At the centre of the star is a circlet bearing "SOUTH AFRICA 1900-2"

A post from The Great War Forum :

"Kipling & King p.444 for the 23rd County of London battalion "An eight pointed star, the topmost point displaced by an Imperial Crown. On this a circlet inscribed South Africa 1900-2 with, in the centre, a shield bearing the Arms of Guildford. Below the star, a scroll inscribed 23rd Bn.The London Regt. The ground of the shield, the crown and the scroll in gilding metal, remainder in white metal. Officer's: in gilt-and-silver, also in bronze. There was an all -brass economy issue. All versions are found with the date 1900-02 instead of 1900-2. " .

Comment from poster :

The only badges I have seen are as this description and illustration except that they have 1900-2 as does the illustration in K & K.

[High Wood]

It may sound heretical but I do not believe K&K are infallible. Does anyone have an example of the 1900-02 bi-metal badge without the faults that they can post?

[High Wood]

In this example from Cam's album the L of London is directly in line with the lower point of the star, the Rd of the 23rd is underlined as is the N of battalion and the space between the star points at 5 O'Clock & 7 O'Clock and the title scroll are unvoided.

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ctureid=160935

[High Wood]

The example in Chipper's album appears to have been struck from the same die as mine.

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ctureid=136219

[High Wood]

Orasot has both both variants of the bi metal badge and both of a higher quality than my example.

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ctureid=125274

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ctureid=125273

[High Wood]

And yet Orasot's 1916 Economy badge appears to be from the same die as mine.

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ctureid=125267

[High Wood]

So it would seem that there are two authentic versions of the 23rd London cap badge one with South Africa 1900-2 and another with South Africa 1900-02 and at least one type of poor quality fake with South Africa 1900-2.

[Keith Blakeman]

Originally Posted by High Wood

It may sound heretical but I do not believe K&K are infallible. Does anyone have an example of the 1900-02 bi-metal badge without the faults that they can post?

Here’s my looped example.

[High Wood]

Originally Posted by Keith Blakeman

Here’s my looped example.

If you don't mind me saying so, your badge does have rather wide spacing between the letters of South Africa but looking at Wilf's examples that appears to be the norm.