Crimean War Insignia

[klr]

Hello These are from and old collection. A note says Crimean War battlefield recoveries obtained from museum in Crimea 1992. Kirby

[klr]

Crown broken off.

[klr]

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[klr]

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[klr]

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[klr]

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[klr]

These were in the same case but they don't look as old. Thanks for any information this isn't my area of collecting.

[peter monahan]

Call me a cynic, but these things are in VERY good condition for something supposed to have been the ground for 120 years or so. They are very very well preserved - no visible damage other than the broken off crown. Did the seller say whether or not other items were found, such as buttons, buckles and so on? If there was a large lot and these are the cream, that's one thing, but if the 'finder' located only helmet plates I have to wonder - seems long odds to have the best stuff and no damaged or minor items. Or cleaning them perhaps the collector just did a very good job up.

I think the grenades and bugles may be French.

My two cents worth!
Peter

[Brad Posey]

The bugles and horns are French.

I have bought a lot of that Crimean dug stuff over the years, but eventually lost interest and sold it. I had Russian, French, British and Sardinian (Italian) artifacts.

My opinion is that they are all good, just over-cleaned – Ukrainian style.

Almost everything I bought, including buttons was over-cleaned. You can see the pits in the metal due to ground action, but the patina has been scrubbed away by acid based cleaning agents.

Some artifacts are in remarkably good condition and I attribute this to the arid climate in addition to the over-cleaning I mentioned earlier.

In addition to buying cap and cartridge box plates I also bought bullets and other artifacts from the battlefields near Sevastopol. From my perspective all of the artifacts I bought were 100% original, just over-cleaned.

Because of this, and the fact that I would never visit these battlefields personally I gave up my interest in Crimean War relics with the exception of rifle bullets. I hope to some day clear up a lot of mis-understandings about US Civil War small arms ammunition previously thought to have been imported to the US from Europe as well as define the officially adopted small arms ammunition of the various European nations during the transition from round ball to the elongated ball (Minie Ball).

My quest has taken me to many countries throughout Europe so I could personally search for and find small arms ammunition from the following conflicts:

The Schleswig-Holstein Revolt, 1850

The Crimean War, 1854-56 (the only site I did not personally visit)

The Franco-Austrian War, 1859

The Schleswig-Holstein War, 1864

War of German Unification, 1866 (Austro – Prussian War)

Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71

Anyway, I think your cap badges are good, just over-cleaned.




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[klr]

Hello Thanks for all the information on the badges. This isn't my area of collecting but these are part of a large collection I have been picking up. I have a couple of cases of British Empire stuff. Thanks Kirby

[peter monahan]

Brad

Thanks for the lesson! It wouldn't even have occurred to me that people used acid to clean badges, but now that you say it I can see the evidence you mentioned. Amazing how well these have survived all those years in the ground!

Peter

[Dave Alexander]

38th Foot - Staffordshire Regt.
68th Foot - Durham Light Infantry.