Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Show Me Your Badge, Ranger


By Kathleen Rice Adams

Texas Ranger, c. 1846 (Library of Congress collection)
Texas Ranger badges are a hot commodity in the collectibles market, but the caveat “buyer beware” applies in a big way. The vast majority of items marketed as genuine Texas Ranger badges are reproductions, facsimiles, or toys. Very few legitimate badges exist outside museums and family collections, and those that do hardly ever are sold. There’s a very good reason for that: Manufacturing, possessing, or selling Texas Ranger insignia, even fakes that are “deceptively similar” to the real thing, violates Texas law except in specific circumstances.

According to Byron A. Johnson, executive director of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum (the official historical center for the Texas Ranger law-enforcement agency), “Spurious badges and fraudulent representation or transactions connected with them date back to the 1950s and are increasing. We receive anywhere from 10 to 30 inquiries a month on badges, the majority connected with sales on eBay.”

If you had to, could you identify a legitimate Texas Ranger badge? Test your knowledge: Which of the alleged badges below are genuine? Pick one from each set. (All images are ©Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas, and are used with permission. All Rights Reserved.)

Set 1


©TRHFM, Waco, TX
©TRHFM, Waco, TX

Answer: The right-hand badge, dated 1889, is the earliest authenticated Texas Ranger badge in the collection of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Badges weren’t standard issue for Rangers until 1935, although from 1874 onward, individual Rangers sometimes commissioned badges from jewelers or gunsmiths, who made them from Mexican coins. Relatively few Rangers wore a badge out in the open. As for the item on the left? There’s no such thing as a “Texas Ranger Special Agent.”

Set 2

©TRHFM, Waco, TX
©TRHFM, Waco, TX

Answer: On the left is an official shield-type badge issued between 1938 and 1957. Ranger captains received gold badges; the shields issued to lower ranks were silver. The badge on the right is a fake, though similar authentic badges exist.

Set 3

©TRHFM, Waco, TX
©TRHFM, Waco, TX

Answer: The left-hand badge was the official badge of the Rangers from July 1957 to October 1962. Called the “blue bottle cap badge,” the solid, “modernized” design was universally reviled. The right-hand badge is a fake. According to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, “No genuine Texas Ranger badges are known to exist with ‘Frontier Battalion’ engraved on them.”

Set 4

©TRHFM, Waco, TX

©TRHFM, Waco, TX

Answer: The badge on the right, called the “wagon wheel badge,” has been the official Texas Ranger badge since October 1962. Each is made from a Mexican five-peso silver coin. The badge on the left is a “fantasy badge.” According to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, the most common designation on such badges is “Co. A.”

How did you do?

For more information about the Texas Rangers—including the history of the organization, biographical sketches of individual Rangers, and all kinds of information about badges and other insignia—visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online at TexasRanger.org. The museum and its staff have my utmost gratitude for their assistance with this post. They do the Rangers proud.


And while we’re on the subject of Rangers... My short story “The Second-Best Ranger in Texas” bows tomorrow as a 99-cent e-book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

His partner’s grisly death destroyed Texas Ranger Quinn Barclay. Cashiered for drunkenness and refusal to follow orders, he sets out to fulfill his partner’s dying request, armed only with a saloon girl’s name.

Sister María Tomás thought she wanted to become a nun, but childhood dreams aren’t always meant to be. At last ready to relinquish the temporary vows she never should have made, she begs the only man she trusts to collect her from a mission in the middle of nowhere.

When the ex-Ranger’s quest collides with the ex-nun’s plea in a burned-out border town, unexpected love blooms among shared memories of the dead man who was a brother to them both.

Too bad he was also the only man who could have warned them about the carnage to come.

 

Descended from a long line of Texas ranchers, preachers, and teachers on one side and Kentucky horse thieves and moonshiners on the other, Kathleen Rice Adams had no choice but to become an outlaw. Maybe that’s why all of her protagonists wear black hats. Visit her at KathleenRiceAdams.com.


14 comments:

  1. As usual, entertaining and educational. Even though I live in wonderful Colorado, Texas history is also pretty fascinating.

    Your story will be a gift to all who read it. I really, really liked it! Doris

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    1. Thanks, Doris! That story was both fun and a challenge to write. (I'm waiting to Jim Griffin to pistol whip me with a Walker Colt if I got any Ranger stuff wrong. ;-) )

      Happy holidays, sweetie!

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    2. "...FOR Jim Griffin..." not "...to Jim Griffin..." GAH! More coffee, STAT! :-)

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  2. I didn't do very well on the test. But I'll look out for the short story.

    Keith

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    1. Keith, you're a Scot. If you got ANY right, you did well! I'm a Texan, and even I had trouble with Set 4. :-)

      Merry Christmas and happy Hogmanay to you and yours!

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  3. Nice essay, Kathleen. Growing up in Texas, I always looked up to Texas Rangers. Then, when I got to work along side a few, I was pretty sure I'd died and gone to law enforcement heaven. I had an unofficial deputy US Marshal badge made from a cinco peso coin with my badge number on it. It's one of my prize possessions.

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    1. Wow, Marc! I'll bet that badge IS one of your prized possessions. And working with the Rangers? I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven, too. The Texas Rangers are legendary for very good reasons. We Texans love our Rangers, don't we? :-)

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  4. I've gotten several listings for "authentic" Ranger badges pulled from eBay as fakes. And boy when you call out a seller of fake badges do they get mad! Virtually the only way to get a genuine Ranger badge is to inherit one. I have several fakes I wear during my reenactments, but I'm well aware they're not the real article.

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  5. PS: I passed the test at 100%. I would have had to gut-shoot myself if I hadn't.

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    1. LOL, Jim! I would've had to shoot you, too! :-D

      It irks me to no end when people list "authentic" Ranger badges for sale ANYWHERE. They're on Craigslist every so often, too. Good on you for calling out the crooks on eBay. That place is full of thieves and charlatans anymore, which is just sad.

      BTW: Byron sent his regards. :-)

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  6. An interesting Piece Kathleen. Buyers beware on eBay not mater what area of collecting.

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  7. I think the crude badge (Ira Aten's) on the right also as a shaking provenance as well.

    Sloan

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  9. I think the crude badge (Ira Aten's) on the right also has a shaking provenance as well.

    Sloan

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