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 is a nice example of the king's crown petty officer's badge worn by the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Air Service in the early years of the 20th century, indeed technically right up to the introduction of the queen's crown badge in 1953.

In 1881 the 87th Prince of Wales Own Royal Irish Fusiliers and the 89th (the Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot were amalgamated to form the RIF. The eagle commemorates the capture of the eagle of the 8th French Regiment by the 87th at the battle of Barrosa in 1811.

In 1881 the regimental numbering system was altered and two regiments (27th & 108th) were amalgamated into the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (a distinguished Northern Irish regiment). The busby bomb was introduced in 1865, but, as this badge is not numbered, it is post-1881.

This is aluminium dog tag is probably for the training battalion of the unit and is marked 'Neu' (=new) to indicate a replacement item. The First Panzer Army were famous for having got the furthest East (to the edge of Grozny in modern Chechenya) of any German units in WW2. 'O' indicates the blood group.

The eagle is a poor quality copy, which, on close examination, shows the characteristic pimpling, evidence of electroform construction, a process used on the originals. The skull is better, but the presence of raised SS runes on the reverse condemns it - the originals never had this detail. Also, the format of the skull eye sockets is incorrect.

The top two items (skull and eagle) are both marked 'SS475/43' and are copies. The bottom eagle, which is a period example, is marked 'SS475/42' (ie 1942). (These items do not belong to me and are not for sale.)

The left-hand example is an original; the right-hand example is a very clever copy of a known woven wool badge, probably made in Pakistan. (These items do not belong to me and are not for sale.)

An other ranks helmet plate, which appears to be made of tombak with a nickel-silver finish, and has a painted bear as the centre of the device. This was worn in Berlin between the wars and into the early years of the Third Reich. The condition is average for its age.