Rare variant of the Palmach emblem breast badge, c. 1948-1949; not maker-marked: this is supposed to be the design of Yitzhak Meir based on the original by Shoshana Spector; size: 1.2 x 1.5cm; weight: 0.8g: bears 6-leaved sheaths (instead of the usual 4, as per the Palmach's official emblem design), and the area below the sword, between the wheat sheaths is filled in and not punched-out as on other such pins. Reverse has safety-pin attached. The pin was issued to everyone who was a Palmach member prior to 29 November 1947 (the date on which the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to partition Palestine - the unofficial start of the 1947-49 Israeli War of Independence). Veterans say it was issued just prior to the declaration of independence, during a Palmach assembly at the 'HaBima' theater commemorating the force's 7th anniversary, on 7 May 1948, when it was less dangerous to be seen in Mandatory Palestine openly identified as a member of the as-then underground force. The pin was usually worn on the flap of the left pocket of an army shirt/tunic, sometimes with cloth backing, though rarely seen worn. The Palmach existed as an independent armed force even after the IDF was created, until November 1948, when it was absorbed into the Israeli Army; it numbered about 6,500 fighters of whom 1,500 fell in the War of Independence. The Palmach pin was later replaced in 1951 by the blue and white War of Independence ribbon.