Mike McLellan

Holy cow. Free postage? Pretty tempting.

The ribbon, in B&W photos, resembles an American bronze star. It is, in fact, for service on the Eastern Front, or Russian front. So called because bodies of frozen corpses were “staged” along the trail for dramatic effect.

Reminds me of the “Sgt. Pepper” album cover. Lots to look at.

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

Well worth the wait. Very nice. Mike

A police medal of some sort?

Amazing! Not only that, but I have to confess that I surreptitiously crept back into your archives to see your earlier posts with pictures. They are ALL amazing. I promise not to tell anyone, though. 😁 Mike.

Hi Swainy’s Boy. Thanks for the link. It’s always a treat to look over your, and your dad’s, incredible collection. It’s hard to decide on a favorite among so many beautiful pieces. Mike.

That is an amazing photo. Talk about, “Good cop / Bad cop”. What a team!

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

Another beautiful tipstaff, Brian. Mervyn must have thought very highly of you, and valued your friendship. Both tipstaves merit a place of honor in your collection as well as in your home. Thanks for sharing. Mike.

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. Here it is!

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.