Rank insignia plaque

Rank insignia plaques, also referred to as rank pins or rank badges, were badges used in the military forces of Sheev Palpatine's Galactic Empire as a means to indicate and distinguish officer ranks. They were originally used by Republic officers during the Clone Wars, when Palpatine was still Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. The plaque, which was worn on the left side of the regulation tunic over the heart, consisted of translucent, colored rectangular tiles mounted on a metal bar.

Those plaques could comprise one or two rows of tiles mounted on top of another. Double-row plaques were made from two separate parts of one row each, rather than two rows of caps on a single backing piece. The different types of tiles came in blue, red, gold yellow, and grey. Rank plaques could be encoded with information readable by devices such as electronic locks. Members of media organizations such as the Imperial Press Corps wore Imperial media badges.

Text and facts from the “Rank insignia plaque” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.