This field covers, in the main, headdress badges of many different parts of the world, but also includes cross-belt plates, etc. An interesting example is the parallel existence of regimental badges for the British and Austrian armies, fighting on opposing sides in WW1, something unique to these two countries. Good reference books include: Kipling & King's two volumes on headdress badges of the British Army; John Gaylor's book on cap badges of the British Army; Ashok Nath's book, Izzat: Historical Records and Iconography of Indian Cavalry Regiments 1750-2007 (published 2009 by the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research United Service Institution of India), a superb rendering of this extremely complex subject, beautifully illustrated. Ashok Nath's website is at: http://sites.google.com/site/anath53/home

This OR's example was worn on the Home Service pattern helmet from about 1880 to 1908. The unit was raised primarily from members of the legal profession as the 23rd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers in 1860, changing its number to 14th in 1880 and joining the Rifle Brigade in 1881 as one of its allotted volunteer battalions.

This is a period example of a 17th Foot (Leicestershire Regiment) - the lugs are in the classic North/South position that one would expect to find on originals. The regiment's nick name 'The Tigers' stems from their extensive service in India in the 18th and 19th centuries. For reference, this can be found as no 446 in Kipling & King.

This is the OR's glengarry badge of the 5th Battalion. It was worn, with a Queen's crown, from 1887-1901, when the imperial crown (as chosen by Edward VII) replaced Queen Victoria's crown.

The original badges were in service 1874-1881. Mr Fox's re-strikes were produced from original dies c 1889-1902 to satisfy the demand of collectors at that time, and were quite faithful to the originals, except for the placing of the lugs at the middle, rather than North/South as on the originals.

This is the smallest type of badge for the 7th Foot - almost certainly one of Mr Fox's re-strikes. It is, as far as the obverse is concerned, good and a near contemporary example, while the reverse is slightly fuzzy. It is priced accordingly.

This design was worn by the 16th Foot (Bedfordshire Regiment) from 1874-1881.This example is probably a near contemporary re-strike, marketed by a Mr Fox of Southsea from the original dies c 1889-1902, an indicator of this being that the lugs are set on the middle of the badge, as opposed to North/South as on the originals.

This replaced the previous numbered example worn on the glengarry cap. A slightly larger version was worn on the racoon skin cap for dress and on the foreign service helmet.

This would have been worn on a variety of shakos, the earlier ones being the bell top type, replaced around 1845 by several types with progressively lower crowns. The 1st regiment, La Fere, raised in 1720, was the oldest foot artillery unit of France and the one into which Napoleon Bonaparte was first commissioned in 1785.

After the annexation of the Zhob District in Baluchistan (1889), the Zhob Levy Corps was raised and came under the control of an English officer (Major), who would have been posted as a Political Officer, not as their commandant (Political Officers were the forerunners of what later became the Indian Political Service).

This would have been mounted on the last pattern pickelhaube as worn in WW1. The original pickelhaube was introduced into the Prussian army in 1848 and was successively modified right through 1914 and beyond, the height of the helmet being repeatedly reduced.