Page 36 - Nov 2020 JOA

ANTIQUES PEEK by Jessica Kosinski
ANTIQUES PEEK

Military Badges

s modern humans, we are used to conflict; whether in badges to indicate skills members have. For example, military
the form of a small disagreement with a members who fly airplanes often have badges
Aneighbor or a full-scale war. There is featuring wings or otherwise referencing flight.
evidence that such conflicts existed well before There are also badges for surgeons, divers, and
well-documented eras. Archaeologists indicate other special skills in various military branches.
that, in the earliest days of humanity, the
population was too low for large battles to The Earliest Versions of Military Insignia
occur often. However, as population The concept of wearing military
density increased, so did disputes. insignia goes back many centuries. It
Eventually, such disputes led to the isn’t new. However, in the early days,
organization of various military groups. actual badges did not exist. Instead,
Within those groups, there has long whatever methods were handy at the
been a need to differentiate between time were used to denote military rank in
leaders and lower-ranking members. various countries out of a sense of necessity.
Military badges, in some form or another, have For example, soldiers in various armies were
been used to differentiate between different known to wear special sashes around their
rankings in all branches of armed services for Army of the Potomic Calvalry Corps waists, special hats, or even adornments like
thousands of years. Let’s take a peek at how they feathers to show their ranks. Some even carried
have evolved, the types of information they can specific types of weapons to make them stand out
convey, and how to collect them. from other members of their military groups.

Badges Versus Insignia The Push for Clear Insignia and Badges in the United States
The first thing to Differentiating between leaders and subordinates was absolutely
address when collecting essential. In the United States, the modern push for proper military
military badges is the dif- badges can be traced back to the Revolutionary War. When the
ference between the term Continental Army couldn’t afford uniforms, George Washington made
“badge” and the term a plea to at least get them some sort of badges. After the Revolutionary
“insignia” when referring War, certain branches of the military here in the U.S. adopted badge
to the military. Insignia systems similar to those used by the British. However, other branches
are typically badges that chose to develop their own unique badge systems.
denote a branch of service
or the rank within a branch
of service. In the United
States, the type of insignia
Victorian British Military Badge worn is important, and so
is the positioning of it on a
service member’s uniform. For instance, in the Navy, some members
are required to wear their insignia on the left breast, while others wear
it on the right side.
In many military forces, members may also wear badges denoting
particular departments of service or special achievements, which are
not generally referred to as insignia. For example, a member of the
navy who is a captain wears insignia denoting his or her rank. He or
she may also wear a badge indicating the department or function he
or she has, such as a recruiting
officer’s badge.
Although the above are U.S.
Navy-related examples, similar
practices are carried out in other
branches of the U.S. military and
organizations, including the
Army, Coast Guard, National Examples from a collection of 800 military badges amassed by one man
Guard, and Marines. Each one has been unearthed to remember the lost regiments of the British Army
has its own badge and insignia that sold at auction in Great Britain in 2016
systems. Similar practices are also
carried out in military branches Changes to U.S. Badge Systems
in most other countries because it An important thing to know when collecting U.S. military badges
is important for ranks and in particular is that you can moderately pinpoint the ages of badges
departments of service to be clear based on changes to badge systems within military branches. For
at all times to fellow members. example, Army second lieutenants were given insignia known as
Many military branches in “butterbars” in 1917. It is important to note that many changes to U.S.
U.S. Air Force Fire Protection Badge various countries also have military ranks and badges occurred in connection with specific

34 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles