China, Imperial, Republic. Fifteen Rare Shanghai Volunteer Corps Uniform Insignia

2. two Collar Badges (in bronze, inscribed "S.V.C." on the bomb face, measuring 15.2 mm (w) x 31.5 mm (h) each, one with intact lugs and pin, the other missing its lugs). 

3. five Large Uniform Buttons (in bronze gilt, unmarked, illustrating the initials "SVC" surrounded by a garter and inscribed "APRIL 4th 1854" above, measuring 22 mm in diameter each, all with an intact loop, exhibiting discolouration on their reverses, one with greening on the obverse).

4. seven Small Uniform Buttons (in bronze gilt, unmarked, illustrating the initials "SVC" surrounded by a garter and inscribed "APRIL 4th 1854" above, measuring 15.5 mm in diameter each, all with an intact loop, exhibiting discolouration on their reverses, three of which are linked together via black threading).

Very fine. 

Footnote: The Shanghai Volunteer Corps (SVC) (1853-1942) was a multinational, mostly volunteer force controlled by the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement. It was created on April 12, 1853 during the Small Swords Society's uprising. It saw action alongside British and American military units in the 1854 "Battle of the Muddy Flat", when Qing imperial troops besieging the rebel-held city ignored foreign demands to move further away from the foreign concessions. Concerned that the Qing forces were drawing rebel fire into the settlements, the foreign consuls and military commanders authorized an attack on the Qing forces to dislodge them. The operation was successful, and the battle was thereafter commemorated as an important event in the history of the SVC. The Corps was disbanded in 1855 but reestablished in 1861. In 1870, the Shanghai Municipal Council took over the running of the SVC . 

The unit was mobilized in 1900 for the Boxer Rebellion and in 1914 for the First World War. In 1916, the British recruited Chinese to serve in the Chinese Labour Corps for service in rear areas on the Western Front to free troops for front line duty. Many members of the SVC served as officers in the CLC. In 1910, the German contingent consisted of one regular company (Prinz Heinrich Kompangie) and one reserve company. When the First World War broke out, at least forty of the German volunteers in Shanghai left to join the 7. Kompagnie of the III. Seebataillon in the defence of Tsingtao.

At various times during its history, the Shanghai Volunteer Corps included Scottish, American, Chinese, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, Danish, German, Filipino, Jewish, Portuguese, Japanese, White Russian, and Eurasian companies, amongst others. The British War Office supplied weapons and a commanding officer. The German and the Austro-Hungarian companies were disbanded in 1917 when China declared war on Germany. Prior to 1914 some of the national contingents wore distinctive parade uniforms at their own expense, modelled on those of their respective armies.

While the uniforms of each company differed in many ways, each made use of the Cap badge of the SVC which consisted of an eight-pointed Brunswick star with the letters "SVC" and the date "4th April 1854" in a scroll underneath. The official seal of the Volunteer Corps was different however and consisted of the Municipal Council seal as approved in 1868 on a gold Brunswick star and was exactly the same except the council title and motto was replaced with "Shanghai Volunteer Corps" and the Prussian flag (representing Germany) was retained even when it was removed from the council flag after 1917.

The insignia of the companies also differed: the German Company, "Prinz Heinrich Kompagnie", wore a crowned "H" monogram on their shoulder straps for Prince Heinrich of Prussia (Kaiser Wilhelm II's younger brother and commander of the German East Asia Squadron, 1899-1903), and the Jewish Company, who wore collar insignia consisting of a Star of David with "SVC" in the centre. The Portuguese Company wore red collar tabs, as worn by the Portuguese Army, and had the distinction of being the only SVC unit to be decorated by any government, when on October 5, 1932, the Portuguese Minister to China presented the Company with the Military Order of Christ.

The SVC reached its maximum strength in the early 1930s where it consisted of the following units: Light Horse (1882, American Troop), Field Artillery Battery, Light Artillery Battery (prior to 1924 it was the Scandinavian Company, Field (Engineers) Company, Armoured Car Company (1928), "A" Company (British), "B" Company (1890, Eurasian), "C" Company (Chinese), American Company (1900), Japanese Company (1907), "H" Company (1932, Jewish Company), Philippine Company (1932, under American Officers), Portuguese Company (1906), Shanghai Scottish (1914), American Machine Gun Company (1932), Transport Company (1932), Signals Company (1932), Interpreter Company (1932), Air Defence Company, Public School Cadet Company, White Russian Regiment (1927), White Russian Regiment (1930's). 

The German Company, founded in 1891 and granted permission to be named the "Prinz Heinrich Kompagnie" in 1898, and the Austro-Hungarian Company, founded in 1912, were both disbanded in 1917 with China's entry into the First World War. The Italian Company, founded in 1914, also later disbanded in 1920. With the exception of the White Russians, the Corps were all unpaid Volunteers with the SVC financed by the Shanghai Municipal Council. On January 16, 1941, the Russian Regiment became the Auxiliary Detachment of the Shanghai Municipal Police.