Feather bonnet age?

[48HofC]

Interesting stuff, thanks for this info. So, they're possibly not as old as I first thought. I know the 'Seaforth' bonnet with the plastic chinstrap was bought second hand in the 80s but know nothing of the other to help age it. It doesn't matter, im just interested as I find them fascinating.

I'm torn between the two because I only need one so I intend to sell the other. The trouble is whilst the 'Seaforth' bonnet is more comfy on, has better condition lining and in my opinion a nicer dicing/badge combo, the 'Argyll' bonnet trumps it all day on shape and size! I had no idea there was such variation out there.

The Argyll pattern is now gone from the British army with the reduction of 5SCOTS to Balaclava company, so it would be the rarer of the two so it seems. My first bonnet had the plastic chin strap and I couldn't stand it, not very comfortable especially in the heat. I traded it in as soon as I could and found the leather one ten times better. You can get the liner fixed up or a new one installed, had one done years ago in Edinburgh.