Royal Navy Badge Crowns Red/Blue Centre Jewels

[SimonLMoore]

This is an interesting topic and one I've seen crop up on the forum, here I can share the actual story behind it.

In 1902 with the accession of Edward VII the heraldic crown changed from the St. Edwards Crown (used again today) to the heraldic 'Imperial Crown'. According to the rules of heraldry this crown is only correctly represented with the jewels above the ermine being red-green-blue-green-red. In 1921 it was noted that some manufacturers had been producing badges with a red central jewel, others had stuck to the rules and used a blue central jewel, red was not universal prior to 1921.

This led to an official warning that from now on all manufacturers must stick to and not deviate from the official heraldic pattern which should have been the norm from the start.

However there were already many of the offending badges in stores so their issue continued, I have previously had in my collection a late 1930s Petty Officer's jacket which bore a rating badge with a red central jewel to the crown.

Edited September 6, 2014 by SimonLMoore

[Jerry B]

Thanks for the information on this subject Simon, as I had previously mentioned this, but without the background to it.