An opportunity to own a very rare gilt enamel example of the normal chrome enamel issued Lincolnshire Fire Brigade 1974 to 2004 cap badge. Manufactured by Marples & Beasley badge company of Birmingham, i believe this is an original factory sample produced for a badge card of many different variations of the same badge sent to Lincolnshire Fire Brigade in 1974 for approval for a badge for issue & mass production.  The factory would keep one card, the Fire Brigade the other. One badge would be chosen & sent back to the factory....the rest would be put aside & forgotten or eventually disposed of. There would only be 2 or 3 badges made of each original sample, one for Factory, one for Brigade & possibly one to facilitate the manufacture of mass production . Main reason because factories were mindful of wasting metal unneccessarily on a badge that might not be needed !
This badge is on a Marples & Beasley Home Office star, the centre fixed to the star & clearly showing its gilt brass origins to the unenamelled part. A great cap badge for a collector wishing to possess an extremely rare badge that only i have the other. I obtained both exact samples from the same source who's father bought a large coin collection in the late 1980's & both these were amongst other oddities he wasnt interested in & remained in a cupboard until recent months !