Silver Wound Badge

[Danny70]

Hi All...

I'm looking for your opinions and/or advice about this recent impulse buy... It's an unmarked silver wound badge. I have always liked, but know very little about, these badges... my WB collection consisted of only 2 black versions (an L/16 S&L and an unmarked one).

This was a cheap enough buy due to the damaged clasp. The detail seems good to me although almost all of the original silver wash has been absorbed/lost. It has that very distinct, acrid smell of old zinc, which I take as a good sign, however the only thing that makes me wonder is the 'thickness' of the actual badge. It is quite slim, but this may be a result of late war metal shortages, but I have heard of this feature being one commonly found on fakes.

What do you guys think?

Regards - Danny

[Guest Darrell]

Hi Danny,

It's a good one. But I'm not so sure it's Silver. The color you see is the base metal zinc. The coloring has long disappeared.

IF ... the pin is original to the badge, this one may even possibly have started life out as a Gold. Take a close look all over the badge .. any recesses where traces of the original finish remain. YOu may get a glimpse of some Gold Coloring

[Danny70]

Hi Darrell,

Thanks for the reply, but no, I examined it very carefully under magnification and found absolutely no trace of any gold colouring, however, I did find (some, but very little) evidence of a silver finish.

As to the pin, I think you may be correct, it may not be original to the badge. At first I thought it was made of brass or tombak, but on closer inspection it seems to have some small areas of wear showing a dark grey/black colour. The small pin (of the hinge) attaching it to the badge is rather loose, and the (main) pin itself looks to have been bent slightly to get it to fit into the clasp (Maybe this was the cause of the breakage?). The scratches on the badge itself from the end of the pin look very fresh - again hinting that the pin is a later addition.

Still, it displays well in my small collection, so I'm happy enough!

Thanks again,

Regards - Danny

[Guest Darrell]

Danny,

Silver is probably the case then.