1) Yes that's correct, Jack Angolia states that the "old silver" is the lowest rank on the first pattern. My photo was out of order. woops.
2) Good question. It could be put another way, "Did a plain border silver wearer outrank a braided bronze wearer"? Based on the quantity that I've seen for sale and the number of braided badges I've seen in photos in wear, I'd say that the braided brooches in any grade were fewer and harder to earn than the plain borders of grades (with the possible exception of gold). This raises a very interesting point. Maybe gold was "staff" and silver "camp staff" etc.
I'll try to find that out. Now I'm curious. I'll ask some heavy hitters.
