Collectible Police Badges

In the wild west of mid-19th-century America, peace officers often made their own badges out of whatever scrap of metal they could find. These tin stars, as they were known, were precursors to more substantial badges made by local blacksmiths, which were followed by stock badges finished in nickel or rhodium and sold by badge manufacturers. Shapes include pierced stars set within a shield or circle, and five- or six-pointed stars, with or without balled tips. While the fronts of vintage police badges tell us about the people who wore them and where, badge backs can be equally revealing. For example, pins that were simply hooked under a "tongue" catch came into vogue at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, which means they cannot be older than that. Because we know that the Burgess Safety Catch was patented in 1909, badges with these catches are not found at all in the 19th century, whereas post-back badges date as early as the 1880s. There were also regional differences—bar-post mounts, which allow a badge to be attached to a uniform with a safety pin, are found in the eastern United States but not out west. Similarly, hallmarks can also be used to date police badges, although not always with precision accuracy: While it's useful to know that between 1939 and 1949, W.J. Cooley made badges in Memphis, Tennessee, S.M. Spencer Mfg. of Boston produced badges from 1920 until it went out of business in 1960, which is not especially helpful.