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    Mike McLellan

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    Posts posted by Mike McLellan

    1. I thought that the KC was actually a representation the the Imperial Crown, in use since the reign of Victoria. Reverting to that crown might be seen as a wistful longing for a return to the days of the British Empire, sparking at least some controversial debate. 
      Retaining the older "St. Edward's" crown (QC) on official insignia might be a less aggressive alternative. 

    2.     Hello gentlemen. Despite everything that's going on around the planet this year, I've managed to forage through the back alleys and dung heaps, and have added a couple of long-sought-after trinkets for my Specials box. The white enamel badges are quite recent acquisitions and the the Glasgow SC armband is an exciting find. If you squint just right, you can make out the Glasgow coat of arms on it. I haven't seen another one like it anywhere, including John Green's wonderful book on Scottish Police Insignia.  

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    3. 4 hours ago, Paul C said:

      Those are some beautiful bars Claudio and Mike and thanks for posting them.

      Mike to you know who your bar belonged to? What is the third decoration from the right?

      Paul, those are Claudio’s beautiful bars! I tried to “quote” him. It didn’t quite turn out right. I wish they mine. Hell, I wish I could just touch them!  
      Mike

        

    4. All right, Nightbreak! Now you’re talking. Very nice tipstaves, especially the one from Edinburgh. I think you’re right about the crown. I’m not sure if the Scottish version of the Royal arms treats the Hanover inescutcheon any differently than the English version, but, either way, I think the date would be later than 1801. Very cool. 
      Mike

    5. gmic.co.uk: 3.weblocHi CollectorinTheUSA. Interesting topic. When you began this thread, I was hoping that you would post some photos of a couple of tipstaves from your collection. Almost exactly two years ago, in a thread simply titled "Mervyn", you told a wonderful story of how you acquired two tipstaves directly from Mervyn, with a promise to post photos. We've been waiting and now I must insist! Okay, maybe "beg" is a better term. Can we see those tipstaves. I've added a link to the original post to refresh your memory.  Well, maybe the link won't work. Anyway, your thread is dated 2/28/17.  Cheers.

      On 28/02/2017 at 12:32, CollectorInTheUSA said:

      Mervyn once sent me photos of a tipstaff he was selling, and I agreed to buy it.  He then emailed me again saying he thinks I should also buy another one he was selling, but I demurred.  But Mervyn persisted, saying he thought I should really, really, really buy the second one as well because it was too good to be left behind.  He said he was so sure about this, that if I didn't like the second tipstaff when I received it, that he would not only take it back, but that he would pay for shipping both ways.  I relented, buying both.  When I received the parcel I was delighted to see that Mervyn was absolutely right, and this second was not only a great tipstaff, but one of the best, ever.  I was delighted he “forced” me to buy it!

       

      Here it is! 

    6. On 16/02/2020 at 07:15, Brian Wolfe said:

      tip staff.JPG

             This is a real beauty of a tipstaff (The stand is first rate too). I'm not sure what Mervyn meant when he referred to this as a "decorative" tipstaff. It is certainly a serious piece of identification, not to be confused with a bauble or decorative trinket, and I’m sure that Mervyn did not wish to imply that it was.  For more than 150 years, all of the men who were charged with the enforcement or regulatory functions of all of the disparate laws of the land were identified as such by a tipstaff, as a symbol of office. There were probably thousands of these things in use over that time. Many official positions were held for one year, and many tipstaves were passed on to succeeding officials, while, with other positions, new tipstaves were manufactured exclusively for them. Most of them had little or no markings. Some had the briefest of identifying markings, inventory numbers, or place names on them. Relatively few showed a useful provenance. The components of each tipstaff were basically similar enough to enable the bearer to identify himself, the crown being the unmistakable symbol of absolute.authority.

           I don't see this as a particularly "Scottish" example. My limited expertise suggests that this is an English tipstaff of typical characteristic form, and a very nice one at that. Of course, the stylish characteristics of tipstaves, as well as truncheons, varied greatly within the realm, and identifying a piece by appearance alone is prone to error. 

         While we're at it, I wish "Nightbreak" would have been able to hang on to that Admiralty Oar tipstaff. That's another Beauty. I see some unfortunate damage, possibly from the jaws of a vise, that partially obliterates the Coat of Arms. The fourth quarter is indecipherable to me on my little iPhone. 

         Mike.

       

         

       

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