Epaulettes of the captain of the Life Guards of the 3rd Finnish Infantry Battalion

Since the introduction of epaulettes as insignia of officers in 1807-1809, they were divided into army ones with a colored cloth field, the color of which corresponded to the color of the shoulder straps of the lower ranks, and guards ones with a woven gold or silver field. This division persisted until 1917. The last example of officer epaulettes, with four grooved rollers around a round field, on a rigid cardboard-metal base, appeared in 1843 and lasted until the end of the old Russian army.

In 1826, the Finnish Rifle Training Battalion was formed in Helsingfors (now Helsinki), one of the first units of the Russian army to be fully armed with rifled firearms. Just three years later, in 1829, the battalion was granted the rights of the Young Guard and the name of the Life Guards Finnish Infantry Battalion. In 1871, when the Guards rifle battalions were consolidated into a brigade, the Finnish Battalion was assigned number 3. It was the only Guards unit staffed exclusively by natives of the Grand Duchy of Finland and maintained with funds allocated by the Finnish Senate. The battalion was assigned a uniform common to the Guards riflemen, but decorated with Finnish national colors – light blue applied cloth with a silver metal device. Count A. A. Ignatiev recalled, "with what pride these wonderful shooters wore their national blue piping instead of Russian crimson, and behind the sides of their uniforms there was a whole chain of distinctions for excellent shooting." Against the background of the growing revolutionary and separatist sentiments in Finland, all Finnish troops were disbanded in 1903-1905, so artifacts related to them are extremely rare today. The epaulettes are made in a rather expensive design – from high-grade piping, with a woven loop instead of an opening for an epaulette button. The original box has also been preserved.