Looking for ideas on what appears to be a French badge.

[Alex Hume]

Good day, everyone.

I've come across a rather interesting badge that appears to be French. But I just can't find anything concrete about what unit or regiment it might have been from. There is quite a bit going on with this insignia; the anchor would seem to indicate the French Troupes Coloniales, not sure if French or Indigenous, in the North African colonial period. Possibly infantry attached to the Navy, from the armored figure of what we think may be Athena or Minerva. There are no wings to indicate paratroopers or air commandos. We also see tridents and what look like guisarme between the tridents and anchor.

Seeing Drago Paris Nice and 43 R. Olivier Metra would tell me that it is from late 1940s/Indichina.

It has been suggested to me that it might not be French at all, by someone who has looked in their catalogs of all known French insignia. If that is the case, my apologies for taking up everyone's time with this snipe hunt.

My thanks for any assistance, and very best regards.

 

[Chris Boonzaier]

This is just a WAG, but I would go with 100% navy. The Anchor is often used for Colonial troops, but there is nothing that suggests an infantry or ground troops connection. The Trident makes it look even more navy like.

Unfortunately there is no unit designation, but the French do not only have Regimental badges or official ones. There are also local ones, commemorative ones, etc. etc....

 

[Alex Hume]

Thank you for this. I fear that we may never find the exact reference because as you say, there were so many badges from that era. Regardless, I think it is a fine pin, and am happy to have it in hand.

[Stuka f]

hello, 

I'll check with friends on a French forum.

cheers

Kris

[Stuka f]

And here we are, it was ID as;

l'école des commissaires de la marine dans sa version ajourée

or the school of marine commissinary's in it's worked out version.

Not sure my translation is exact....

The closest I get to your insigna is here, the first figure on letter stamps of that specificaly school;

http://envelopmer.blogspot.fr/2013/03/0-0-1-2-14-marcophilie-navale-1-1-15-14.html

[Alex Hume]

Brilliant! Thank you very much for your efforts. The figure on the right side of that stamp looks to be the exact one on this badge.

At last I have a group to go with it, now.

 

Once more, thank you.

[Alex Hume]

Thanks to what was given by Stuka's friends on the French forum, I was able to pinpoint the exact badge on another French language site for Insignes Marine.

The exact badge I have is listed on http://jdesailloudroseren.free.fr/insignes2.html very near the bottom of the page, and named as "Insigne de l'école du Commissariat de la Marine", or "Badge of the school of the Commissariat de la Marine" once Google translate was done with it.
 

I'm grateful to be done with this mystery, and cannot thank you both enough for your assistance.

[Stuka f]

Pleasure was mine!

;-)

Kris