Badge Collection Military Government Police Fire

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Absolutely, ekclete! We sometimes forget that right now the US has ~18,000 law enforcement agencies and ~34,000 fire departments (~75% of which are volunteer). That is a whole lotta badges!

 

Then there are the non-public safety agencies that have badges, too; such as this one:

 

[sharky]

That Golden Gate Bridge badge is amazing!  I'm guessing it was from one of the first toll collectors.  Do you have a shot of the back?  I'd love to see any maker's marks and the latch style.  Number 14 puts it in the first batch.  :-)  May 1937 was the opening of the toll booths. 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Thanks, sharky. Let me dig it out today and I’ll take a picture of it to post on here. Meanwhile, here’s a badge I don’t have from the same agency and in primo condition (no wear!) that I saw on the Internet:

 

 

This is such a beautiful badge! You can even see a ship passing under the bridge. In my badge that ship is totally worn away!

[sharky]

Here is a badge that I have from my Great Grandfather.  My Great Grandfather and his brother, were two of the first agriculture border inspectors in California.  They were first stationed on the Calif-Arizona border by Yuma.  The badge was passed to me and I have it my collection of family badges.  It's a low badge number and one of the only first-badges that I have ever seen.  It's interesting how "department" was abbreviated on this badge.  I haven't seen that on any other California badges.  I knew both my Great Grandfather and his brother until they passed when I was a teenager.  Before they took the "respectable" jobs with the state, they were real cowboys in New Mexico..............I have their old spurs, and "cowboy stuff" as well 🙂

 

[jmd62]

Great looking badge, photo and background information. Thanks!

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Sharky, that’s an outstanding looking badge of your Great Grandfather’s. And having that piece of family history, I’m sure, is equally great. Plus you have the “backstory” of the badge and the agency. Excellent!

 

I haven’t taken a picture yet of that Golden Gate Bridge badge … I need to wait until tomorrow when I have good lighting. But, I can tell you that I have looked it over and the back of the badge has no hallmarks and just a Burgess catch. More mañana.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Sharky, as requested, here’s the reverse of that Golden Gate Bridge badge:

 

 

Again, no hallmark and a Burgess catch.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Just re-posting these from the patch thread to this one:

 

 

Top row: Left is Chief, Right is Deputy Chief.

Bottom Row: Left is Assistant Chief, Right is Fire Marshal.

 

The first three were in their issue boxes, like this:

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Special thanks to a Forum member who gave me this badge:

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Badges enclosed in lucite are a cool thing, since they display well:

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Another badge in lucite:

 

 

[72psb]

Badges in Lucite is a common way of preventing misuse by the retiree or others. This is akin to dewating a service revolver or pistol carried by a retiree during his service. 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Exactly so, 72psb. Although I have a friend that once removed a badge from lucite with acetone. From what he told me it sounded like far more work than I’d want to do. Besides the badges encased in lucite look really nice.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

This is a ~25 year old commemorative badge in lucite:

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

And, one more in lucite:

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Here’re a couple of FDNY commemorative badges:

 

 

[oakleaf777]

Honorary NY State Police Superintendent badge presented to renowned police badge collector, Elvis Presley (no, sadly I don’t have this badge, but saw it come up for auction)

[Brig]

28 minutes ago, oakleaf777 said:

Honorary NY State Police Superintendent badge presented to renowned police badge collector, Elvis Presley (no, sadly I don’t have this badge, but saw it come up for auction)

 

 

An interesting site discussing Elvis' obsession with the police...including a few pictures of some of his badge collection at the very bottom... https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/police-elvis-presley.shtml

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Very cool, Oakleaf77. I’ve seen the Bureau of Narcotics badge that President Nixon presented to Elvis. It’s now in the collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, DC.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Posted this badge earlier:

 

 

However, just saw on the Military Police Facebook page some clarifying information on its dates of use:

 

 

So this badge, as shown on the right, was used at Ft. Custer, Michigan, from November 1942 to September 1944, by permanent party MP’s at that location. (Sorry about the picture quality, best I could do.)

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Saw this badge online:

 

 

So, Ft. Wayne, also in Michigan, used this badge style, too.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Burrowing down a little further, it appears that the shape of the Ft. Wayne and Ft. Custer MP badges is based on the design of the Michigan State Police badge:

 

 

(Photo is from the Internet.)

[Cobra 6 Actual]

A 1923 Masonic badge for its convention in Washington, D.C.

 

Many would consider this badge to be inconsequential. Yet savvy collectors believe that this badge, with a similar design to that of the DC Special Police badge, is considered to be the beginning of “special event” badges in Washington, D.C. These badges over time would include various Inaugurals, memorials, anniversaries, sports, and other such badges. I have a sub-collection of DC badges that I’ll post.

 

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Here’s an example of the obsolete DC “Special Police” badge that I referred to in my previous post:

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Thanks to a Forum member I just got this bullion badge: