A Sand Cast Maker Marked Other Ranks Badge c1940’s

Type 37 Other Ranks Badge

This is a cast badge made in Aligarh near Delhi in Northern India by G. Karenjee & Sons.  It is difficult to accurately date this type of badge but being made in Northern India makes this pre 1947 and is therefore likely to date to WW2. 

These badges are often referred to as being ‘sand cast’ or ‘bazaar’ made and are likely to have been made for the 8th or 9th Battalions York and Lancaster as they were stationed in India at this time. 

Many units based in India often had problems with being supplied with regimental badges from the UK due to the low priority of shipping such items. When badges were not available through the normal supply chain, they were often procured locally. Local metal workers in the bazaars of India would make a pattern in sand from an original badge and pour molten brass into the mould leaving a crude copy of the original.