Telephone Badges

[Sargeguy]

There seem to be a lot of old badges turning up on eBay lately so I decided to start this topic in order to discuss them.  I know little about badges, except that are frequently faked.  Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in.

SOUTHERN MASS TELEPHONE CO.

These appeared in mid December.  It seems odd that a lot of consecutively numbered telco badges from 100 years ago would all show up on eBay at once from the same seller.  Looking at the badges they do seem to be authentic.  There are three types, an inspector badge, a fancy employee badge, and a less fancy employee badge.  The fancy employee badge has a raised bell and a maker's mark which looks authentic.  The less fancy badges have no markings on the back and feature a plain blue bell. 

[Sargeguy]

Here are the two types of employee badge.  The numbers are hand engraved.  If these are a repro, someone went to a a lot of trouble. 

[Sargeguy]

Southern California Telephone Company

We have three different badges from a small telephone company that appeared at the same time from three different sellers.  They have different manufacturers marks on the back.  These all look legit to me, and two are sold by well known collectors. 

 

[Sargeguy]

These look like obvious clumsy fakes.  The Bell Telephone System???

[Sargeguy]

More searches turned up this one on eBay:

[Fabius]

These look like obvious clumsy fakes.  The Bell Telephone System???

Yep. FAKE! These came out a few years ago. Notice that the seller avoids claiming these are original and old.

[Fabius]

There seem to be a lot of old badges turning up on eBay lately so I decided to start this topic in order to discuss them.  I know little about badges, except that are frequently faked.  Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in.

Great minds think alike. I logged in to post about the telephone badges on eBay but I see you posted good information.

[Fabius]

Southern California Telephone Company

We have three different badges from a small telephone company that appeared at the same time from three different sellers.  They have different manufacturers marks on the back.  These all look legit to me, and two are sold by well known collectors. 

Yes, these appear legit. There are just too many Southern California badges out there to make faking them profitable.

I was living in Southern California at the time these badges where discovered in a box in a desk that Pacific Telephone had in storage. At a 1980 (?) LA area ATCA show there was a table full of these badges. They were being sold 2 for $25. I bought 2. I got a #16 badge but passed on a #11 badge because the pin was broke. That was a mistake. The second badge I got came with its original tracking card showing who it was issued to.

[Sargeguy]

What do you think of the Southern Mass  ones?  It seems odd that there are 9 consecutively numbered badges, but then why are they mismatched?  If they are fake one would assume they would all be the same exact pattern.  Why not stamp all of them with the John Robbins MFG logo?

[Fabius]

What do you think of the Southern Mass  ones?  It seems odd that there are 9 consecutively numbered badges, but then why are they mismatched?  If they are fake one would assume they would all be the same exact pattern.  Why not stamp all of them with the John Robbins MFG logo?

I'm not sure. You bring up some valid concerns. Is that hand tooling along the edge? Labor intensive for a repro?

[Sargeguy]

That is what I thought-if they are fake it looks like it took a lot of skill and effort to deceive, followed by a selling tactic that arouses immediate suspicion.  I'm thinking this is more likely the result of a stash surfacing.  Maybe the guy with #9 sold the others and kept one for himself, then saw how much they sold for and decided to sell his as well.

[Sargeguy]

The seller of #9 tells me that he purchased 11 badges from the grandson of the Chairman of the So. Mass Tel Co. at an estate sale in Taunton, MA.  He then re-sold them at the Pier Antique sale in New York City, but found this one the other day and put it up for sale.  He can't remember if the inspector badge was one of them and that he'd need to "ask his dad".

The seller of badge  #s 1-8 claims to have purchased them at an estate sale in Massachusetts.  He says he is a reputable antique dealer knowledgeable in badges, and that they are 100% legitimate.  He says that he will refund the purchase price no questions asked.

[Sargeguy]

Here are a couple of pics of authentic N.E.T.&T badges.  The inspector badge is very similar to the So. Mass. Tel. Co version.  This stands to reason since the companies were closely associated with each other and had similarly marked equipment.

[Greg G.]

Badges? Badges?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT8hE7_8BCY

[Sargeguy]

The two I purchased arrived today.  After looking at them through a loupe I am satisfied that they are real: