Austrian insignia?

[Mark McM]

Hello All,

 

Am hoping someone might be able to identify this.  One suggestion is it may be Austrian.  Any thoughts?

[Farkas]

Hi Mark,

can’t remember seeing this before, I’m pretty sure it’s not an AustroH royal cypher (or a British one )… i can still imagine it being FJ1 (not the official one) though imagine is probably the right word.

 

The lugs on the back are not British but it looks similar to some British shoulder titles.

How big is it?

cap badge size?

 

cheers

tony

PS it looks like KA to me if that helps 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Farkas
Ps

[The Prussian]

Hello!

I also see "KA". The seems to be a german-speaking one.

The letter "K" is unusual in non-german languages. Normally those languages use a "C".

Maybe a saxon one: König Albert (King Albert)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_of_Saxony

Edited May 30, 2023 by The Prussian

[Mark McM]

thanks for the feedback guys… for scale:

[Farkas]

On 30/05/2023 at 02:07, The Prussian said:

Hello!

I also see "KA". The seems to be a german-speaking one.

The letter "K" is unusual in non-german languages. Normally those languages use a "C".

Maybe a saxon one: König Albert (King Albert)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_of_Saxony

Prussian, your link sent me down a rabbit hole but now I know a bit more than I did about European Royalty, cyphers/monograms in general & German epaulettes!

As us Brits put the Monarchs initial before ‘R’ it would probably not have occurred to me that the ‘K’ was likely to represent ‘Konig’ or ‘Kaiser’.  I had been looking for names beginning with ‘K’.

Also you pointing out the use of K & C was 👍, they are both used for different spellings of the same persons name so it was a timely reminder.

Having said all that….

 

Mark, Unfortunately I cannot find an example the same as yours. 
 

There are plenty of candidates.

As Prussian pointed out the K most likely  represents one of the following :

Konig 

Konigin (Queen)

Kaiser

Kaiserin (Empress)

& not just those of Germany.

Tsar Alexander.
“The 1st (Emperor Alexander) Guards Grenadiers (Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1) were an infantry regiment of the Royal Prussian Army.The regiment was formed in 1814 and was named after Czar Alexander I of Russia, who was also its first colonel-in-chief.The regiment was disbanded in 1920.”

Kings of Europe - 1910

King Alfonso 

King Albert

There is Kaiserin & Konigin Augusta.

Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Augusta Marie Luise Katharina; 30 September 1811 – 7 January 1890) was Queen of Prussia and the first German Empress as the wife of Wilhelm I, German Emperor.

 

Another Kaiserin & Konigin Augusta.

Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-HolsteinVA (Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny; 22 October 1858 – 11 April 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

Kaiserin Karoline.
Princess Caroline Augusta of Bavaria(German: Karoline Auguste; 8 February 1792 – 9 February 1873) was Empress of Austriaby marriage to Francis I of Austria.[1] She was the penultimate child and third daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. She firstly married to Crown Prince William of Württemberg in 1808, but they divorced 1814.

& I think I saw a Katherine Augusta too.
To name but a few ‘A’ & ‘KA’ royalty. 🤷‍♂️
 

 

 

On 31/05/2023 at 12:25, Mark McM said:

thanks for the feedback guys… for scale:

As to its use… From the size I still think it’s from an epaulette. Also the lugs are short, no good for a thick material… I don’t really know whether that supports its use on an epaulette but must rule some uses out.

 

 

It also looks less ‘impressive’ than the one above for example… 🤷‍♂️
 

——
 

I’ve nothing to back this 👇 up except

“I’m sure I’ve just read this somewhere…”

& perhaps someone will confirm or refute it…

It was not uncommon for unofficial badges to be worn by the ‘rank & file’ / ‘other ranks’ that bore the monogram of the ‘honorary colonel in chief’ (as Brits would call it) or current patron of their regiment. 

——

Finally, less optimistically, just to be balanced, it seems every ****er used something similar back in the day

🙃 tony

[Mark McM]

Hey Tony... Thanks for that deep dive!  Yes, I would agree...  it was quite the rabbit hole!  I’m at least somewhat comfortable ruling out a British origin, and that of course leaves a wide field remaining - but your suggestions do narrow the possibilities significantly.  You’re right that the badge is much less “fancy” than the epaulet example illustrated above.  It’s more field-grade construction would seem to suggest an accouterment badge of some sort.  In any event, the search continues....

Edited June 7, 2023 by Mark McM