Quote : " I don't believe the reversed metals represents different Battalions. Or I've never heard of that before"
Hi Andy
Not nowadays of course. But years ago these differences took on much more significance than they do today. eg; According to Chichester & Burges-Short, the reversed and interlaced Royal Cypher was the prerogative of the 2nd & 3rd Battalions Grenadier Guards, and the Honour "Waterloo" was also, strictly speaking, only awarded to the 2nd & 3rd Battalions.
I must confess, I do not know if or how these distinctions were reflected in their badges at the time, but certainly with respect to the Coldstream Guards, there are shako badges of the same period with and without the "Peninsula" honour, possibly reflecting the 1st & 2nd Battalions ?
Such distinctions even carried onto different Companies of the same Regiment, ie; The 1829-44 shako plates of the Light Coy 61st Foot carry the honour "Maida" while those of the Battalion Coys do not. Similarly,for the same period, with the 40th Foot; Both of the Flank Coy badges carry the Sphinx & Egypt honour, while the Battalion Coys do not. This is also reflected in their SBPs.
With regard to the early Grenadier Guards shako badges, there appear to be three (or four) different designs for the same period, viz 1816 to 1825, the significance (if any) does not appear to be documented, so one can only speculate, as indeed we are doing. Regards. Jeff