WW2 Polish Rare Officer’s Badge 10th Regiment of Mounted Rifles

A rare officer’s badge of the 10th Regiment of Mounted Rifles, Polish Forces in the West (1st Armoured Division under General Maczek), manufactured by the Scottish firm Mackay & Chisholm in Edinburgh.

The badge is in the form of a five-armed cross, white enamelled, with crowned eagles placed between the arms. In the centre is a dark green enamelled medallion featuring a crowned Polish eagle, surrounded by a yellow enamelled ring inscribed with “Bog Honor Ojczyzna” (“God, Honour, Fatherland”) and “10.S.K.1918”.
The reverse is smooth, slightly concave in the centre, with a visible mounting post. Fitted with its original screwback disc (tight-fitting).

On the reverse, at the end of two arms (on the spherical finial), are Polish assay marks used between 1963 and 1986 for silver of .916 or higher fineness (including .925). The two marks present – the primary and additional assay marks – indicate that the badge was either imported into Poland during that period or handled by a jeweller or antique dealer. This is an especially interesting feature, confirming the historical continuity and authenticity of the piece.

Catalogued as Variant 38a, as described in “The Polish Army in the West 1939–47: Commemorative and Specialist Badges – A Collector’s Companion” (2020) by Tony Leszczuk and Krzysztof Barbarski.