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Early Chief Petty Officer badge but how early


muddyboots
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I picked this up a few days ago and was wondering how old this was. I have read that this could be from around before WW1. The N looks a little odd and part of the rope looks repaired. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

post-24366-0-27002200-1485294195_thumb.jpg

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I have owned about 5 of these and i see nothing wrong with this badge, it is a ww1 era example but could date into the 30s! Looks like a fine original! I would have no problem buying it!

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Thats interesting, never seen lettering like that before. I'm glad I'm on this forum, learn something new everyday!

 

Jacob

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There was some Chief Pharmacist patches that was in another auction that had the cross in some and others had the caduceus symbol. So the 30's through the 50's is possible as to when the badge was used. The person doing the auction said that the badge and patches all came together and they split them up.

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From a production standpoint, I would say this could date from the early 1900's, after the pin back was called out for the means of attachment, up through the early 1920's. There appears to be several variations in design starting circa WW1 (1917-1918 for us) where they kind of started to get away from this design. I attribute that due to an increase in manufacturer's that obtained contracts to produce insignia during wartime and only general specifications in the design criteria for them to follow. Clearly the pattern with single thicker twisted wire, circa 1930's IMO, was a dramatic change.

 

I have seen photographic evidence of this pattern being worn as late as 1925. I would imagine that a chief wearing these would not have been forced to change it over to any newer design, as regulations were not as strictly enforced and insignia still had a large variation in design, mainly due to manufacturer's having more artistic license than they have today. Wear into the 1950's would surprise me a bit but considering a 30yr chief petty officer could have served from the 1920's into the early 1950's timeframe, it could happen I guess. Most of the photos I've seen of long serving chiefs retiring in the 1950's have them wearing the WW2 pattern anchor with chain fouling and slanted N.

 

I see nothing wrong or abnormal with this particular anchor, IMO a good honest example.

 

Tim

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