vintage thistle clan? badge

[Bruce Scott]

Perhaps from the Scottish Thistle Squadron? There's a bit of a story about how their emblem came about here.

I think that's it!






Above from: http://www.sbap.be/events/2017/012th...histle2017.htm

[figheadair]

Perhaps from the Scottish Thistle Squadron? There's a bit of a story about how their emblem came about here.

Well that is fascinating. I've never heard of the Scottish Thistle Squadron.

[OC Richard]

That is fantastic!

I had no idea. Thanks so much for the ID.

When it arrives I don't think I would wear it. I would like to see it get into the hands of somebody who knows what it is, perhaps someone connected with the Belgian Air Force, or an Air Force badge collector.

I wonder what period the badge is. It's stamped German Silver/white metal, which was standard throughout the World Wars and up until fairly recently.

Here's a 1st Squadron badge/patch on Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/Belgium-Bel...-/263334142329

BTW I was looking at various Belgian Air Force patches- one has the Tasmanian Devil, one has a naked Homer Simpson.

[M A N N A]

Nice, looks the part!

[kemileswallace]

That is fantastic!

I had no idea. Thanks so much for the ID.

When it arrives I don't think I would wear it. I would like to see it get into the hands of somebody who knows what it is, perhaps someone connected with the Belgian Air Force, or an Air Force badge collector.

I wonder what period the badge is. It's stamped German Silver/white metal, which was standard throughout the World Wars and up until fairly recently.

Here's a 1st Squadron badge/patch on Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/Belgium-Bel...-/263334142329

BTW I was looking at various Belgian Air Force patches- one has the Tasmanian Devil, one has a naked Homer Simpson.

Well, Willy Coppens designed it, presumably during WWI. It was seen on plane tails as recently as 2006, probably more recently but I didn't look very hard. So there is a pretty significant window. Are there any symbols along with the German Silver stamp?

[OC Richard]

German Silver is an alloy of nickel and copper, it has no silver content. As such, it does not carry silver hallmarks.

One does see vintage German Silver sporran cantles stamped with the maker's name.

In the British military it was generally called "white metal".

In the world of Scottish pipemakers it was generally called "nickel silver".

From at least the mid-19th century to the mid-20th it was the standard metal for Highland pipe ferrules as well as "Highland ornaments" such as cantles, buckles, badges, sginean, dirks, etc.

The cap badges and collar badges of the Scottish regiments were German Silver up until the evil StayBrite appeared.

Victorian crossbelt hardware made of sheet German Silver



Two early-mid 20th century cast German Silver buckles with a modern chrome-plated buckle



Highland pipes, 1940s and 1950s, with German Silver ferrules



Highland bagpipes, 1905, with engraved German Silver fittings

[neloon]

White metal generally has a high lead content and hence a low melting point so is easily cast for jewellery, badges, models etc. Nickel silver is hard but is easily electro-plated for cutlery, musical instruments etc.
Alan

[OC Richard]

I had always thought that nickel silver (trade name German Silver) was a copper and nickel alloy, in fact it's often called cupro-nickel, but wiki says it has zinc as well

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

About "white metal" I was just following the usage in my books on British military badges buttons etc which uses the term "white metal" as a blanket term meaning anything silver-coloured.

When handled and inspected all the silver-coloured vintage Scottish regimental Other Ranks buckles, buttons, and badges I've seen have been German Silver. For example the stamped cap-badges I've had from various Highland regiments- the metal is quite hard. (Officers are another story, with silverplate and sometimes Sterling Silver things.)

The nice thing about German Silver is when it's polished up it looks very much like Sterling Silver. It has a similar warmth, unlike chrome and aluminium which have a cool or bluish cast.