More on Fake Badges

A lot of information has surfaced on fake railroad police badges, but the problem is so widespread that there is always more to learn. As with most reproductions of antiques, the problem isn't with the fact that a given piece is copied. Responsibly-made reproductions can give collectors a chance to enjoy the design or appearance of something that they wouldn't otherwise have a chance to own. Rather the problem is in the potential that a reproduction can be fraudulently represented as original and therefore of considerably greater value. This has certainly happened a lot with railroad police badges.

The badges shown on this page were apparently made without intent to deceive and are hallmarked in a way that shouldn't pose a problem to knowledgeable collectors. However, they are so striking that it's always possible that someone could try to represent them as being authentic. The images were generously provided by Tony Carp, who added the following"

"These reproductions are of a very high quality and were made by the Göde company in Germany. Göde is a German equivalent to the Franklin Mint, and the items that they make are of museum quality. Their badges are usually hallmarked with a letter "G" with a crown on top and either an eagle’s head or a cut-out shield mark (for their historic badges). Sometimes they are simply marked REPLIK which is a more obvious indication. They were only marketed in Europe as collectible replicas, but unscrupulous sellers will pass them off as genuine when they can."

Six badges are shown below, with hallmarks shown in the last row. Click on each image to see a larger version.

Our special thanks to Tony Carp for providing these images and information

Comment received Spring, 2016: "The NY&SWRR Badge [shown above is a replica of ] a badge I received back in the 1980s. It was NYS&W Badge #1. I also received credentials for said railroad and was on call for railroad problems in our area. I was a cop for the local dept. I had powers of arrest. Funny to see that badge as a fake today! I sold that badge after I retired." [Thanks to JS]