Collecting News Briefs

Showing posts with label badges. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Firefighting memorabilia collector proposed museum - Inland Southern California | PE.com

PASS: Firefighting memorabilia collector envisions starting museum | PE.com | News for Inland Southern California:

"Hammer, 62, has an extensive collection of firefighting artifacts that he has amassed over many years. Old lanterns, ladders, nozzles, hoses, breathing masks, toys, rattles, bells, hand pumps, fire extinguishers and much more are stored in a 2,400-square-foot building behind the Hammer's house.

The fire engines parked at home number nine, and four of them are his. The other five belong to a nonprofit organization, Fire Memories Inc., of which Hammer is volunteer chief executive officer.

Robert and Carolyn Green founded Fire Memories in 1998 in Indio and opened a museum in Washington state. When Robert Green died, his widow was unable to continue the museum and it was closed.

Now, Hammer and his associates at Fire Memories have proposed opening a fire museum at Noble Creek Community Park in Beaumont."

Monday, August 1, 2011

Collecting law enforcement patches - proposed Museum | DesMoinesRegister.com

Museum patches through to police | The Des Moines Register

Dick Draper, assistant museum curator with the Des Moines Police Museum, holds a special patch from Parkersburg that is part of the collection of 1,500 police patches.

"Draper has invested countless hours in locating patches from all over Iowa and putting together multiple displays.

Most notable are the more than 1,500 patches he donated to the museum, located inside the police station, 25 E. First St.

'I do it to keep busy. It's better than watching TV 24 hours a day; that gets old,' he said.

Draper, a retired railroad worker, is a big-time collector. For a decade he has traveled across the state to law enforcement agencies and facilities in pursuit of their patches."

Related articles (& comic relief)

Boy Scout collectibles - 100 kinds of merit badges and the Boy Scout Manual | Post Bulletin

Antiques and Collectibles: 100 years of Boy Scout collectibles - Post Bulletin:

"You can learn about sports, crafts, science, trades, business and future careers as you earn merit badges in Boy Scouts. There are more than 100 merit badges, ranging from American business to woodworking.

“My collecting started around 1978, as I tried to replace the patches my brother had traded,' Dietz said. 'I now have more than 1,000 items.”

Troop insignia, patches and pins are popular with collectors, but out of all the collectible items, the most popular is the Boy Scout handbook.

“I have started to limit my collecting to old uniforms, books, merit badges and trophies,' Dietz said. 'I have two items in my collection that are exceptionally valuable to me. One is a first edition of the first Boy Scouts of America handbook. The other is a full-size, original lithograph poster encouraging the purchase of war bonds for World War I. It is a 1918 poster by J. C. Leyendecker.”"

See more photos at the Post Bulletin

Related articles

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Real life "Valkyrie" - Rare WWII Wound Badges from assassination of the "evil one"

XXX - HUMAN EVENTS:

"In the collecting world one of the most elusive of all collectables is a German wound badge dated '20 July 1944.' As a rule, German wound badges were not dated, however, a run of about a hundred badges were made with this and a facsimile of Hitler's signature on the obverse. This run was made for him to award to the soldiers wounded in this closest to successful attempt on his life. I guess the intent was to reward those who were loyal and willing to continue to stand, quite literally, close to Hitler. I like to think of it as a commemorative to the 'so close' attempt on his life.

This nearly successful assassination of the evil one was refreshed to the general population in the recent film 'Valkyrie' starring Tom Cruise. Although the attempt failed, it was such a large scale endeavor it could not be covered up. This should have been a wakeup call for all of German to rise up and stop the madness, but it was not. Furthermore the paranoid witch hunt that followed probably eliminated any other organized plans in their infancy."

Pages