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A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the
insignia An insignia () is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body. On its own, an insignia is a sign of a specific or general authority and is ...
of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fire), a sign of legitimate employment or student status, or as a simple means of identification. They are also used in advertising, publicity, and for branding purposes. Police badges date back to medieval times when knights wore a coat of arms representing their allegiances and loyalty. Badges can be made from metal, plastic, leather, textile, rubber, etc., and they are commonly attached to clothing, bags,
footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves th ...
, vehicles, home electrical equipment, etc. Textile badges or patches can be either woven or embroidered, and can be attached by gluing, ironing-on, sewing or applique. Badges have become highly collectable: in the UK, for example, the Badge Collectors' Circle has been in existence since 1980. In the military, badges are used to denote the unit or arm to which the wearer belongs, and also qualifications received through military training, rank, etc. Similarly, youth organizations such as
scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
and guiding use them to show group membership, awards and rank.


History

Badges were as popular as jewellery in the Middle Ages, and varied from extremely expensive works of jewellery, like the Dunstable Swan Jewel, to simple mold-made badges in lead or other base metals. Specialized forms were the pilgrim badge, worn by those who had completed a pilgrimage, and heraldic or livery badges, worn to denote service or allegiance to a political figure — these last were especially popular in England, and became very controversial in the period leading up to the Wars of the Roses. One royal celebration in 1483 was marked by the distribution of 13,000 badges, a huge number relative to the population at the time. Other types were funerary badges, presumably presented to mourners for the funeral of important figures, and simple decorative badges with animals or hearts. The grandest form of badge was worn as a pendant to a metal collar, often in gold or
silver-gilt Silver-gilt or gilded/gilt silver, sometimes known in American English by the French term vermeil, is silver (either pure or sterling) which has been gilded with gold. Most large objects made in goldsmithing that appear to be gold are actually ...
. From the livery badge, various badges of service evolved, worn by officials, soldiers and servants. In the British Army a metal (today often plastic)
cap badge A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as w ...
denoting the soldier's regiment became standard by the 17th century, as in most European armies (though not always navies). By the 19th century a badge was an almost invariable part of any uniform, including
school uniform A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution.They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries. An example of a uniform would be requiring button-down shir ...
s, which in the UK usually still feature the school's badge in cloth on the breast pocket of the jacket or blazer.


Various uses

One of the best-known badges is the typically star-shaped U.S. sheriff's badge, made famous in Westerns. The Chairman Mao badge is probably the most famous political badge. Members of fraternities and sororities often refer to the pins that signify their membership as badges. The BBC children's programme
Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...
also awards its own " Blue Peter badge" to members of the public who appear on the show. These are highly collectable as they cannot be bought—except from people who have been awarded one and wish to sell it. Case badges are thick, about deep, lucite stickers that are often packaged with various computer parts, such as processors and video cards. Modern computer cases are frequently embellished with an indentation on the case's front panel to facilitate the affixing of a case badge.
Button badge A pin-back button or pinback button, pin button, button badge, or simply pin-back or badge, is a button or badge that can be temporarily fastened to the surface of a garment using a safety pin, or a pin formed from wire, a clutch or other mechanis ...
s are a highly collectible round badge with a plastic coating over a design or image. They often have a metal pin back or a safety pin style back. The most popular size is but the badges can range anywhere from this size right up to badges. This style of badge is used in
political campaigning A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
and often given as part of a birthday greeting such as a birthday card. In the United States, the badges used by law enforcement, fire, and
security guards A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...
are usually made of metal in various colors and finishes and are worn above the left chest pocket on the uniform shirt or jacket.
Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
s and other plainclothes personnel may wear them on a belt holder, or on a chain around the neck. Shapes are manifold, with municipal police departments tending to have some variation of a shield shape, and sheriff's departments usually going with a 5, 6, or 7 point star shape. In most cases, an enameled seal of the organization, city, county, or company can be found in the center of the badge. File:Greenville, North Carolina Police Badge.jpg, Police Badge, Greenville, North Carolina, presented to the Mayor,
William J. Hadden William James Hadden Jr. (June 2, 1921 – June 14, 1995) was a Protestant minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and a priest of the Episcopal Church (United States) He was also at different times both a military chaplain (both ...
File:GeneseeDABadge.jpg, The badge of an Assistant District Attorney in Genesee County, NY.
In computing, badges are used to demonstrate skills. In education,
digital badges Digital badges (also known as ebadges, or singularly as ebadge) are a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in various learning environments. Origin and development Traditional physical badges have ...
are used as alternative forms of credentials, similar to those being used in the MacArthur Foundation's Badges for Lifelong Learning initiative. In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, lawyers are often issued lapel pin badges which serve as an identification tool in court, or during their normal course of work. Since lawyers are vested with special powers by law, such as the power to compel government agencies to provide information, these badges provide a quick way for lawyers to identify themselves as such.


Bibliography

* Attwood, Philip
Badges
London: British Museum Press, 2004. * Attwood, Philip
Acquisitions of badges (1978-1982)
London : British Museum Occasional Paper 55, 1985. * Attwood, Philip
Acquisition of badges (1983-1987)
London: British Museum Occasional Paper 76, 1990. * Bible, Don
Warrant Discs of the Gestapo & Kripo, 1934-1946
Morristown, Tenn: Published privately by the author, 1991. * C.G. Braxmar Co., Inc. (New York, N.Y.)
Illustrated Catalogue of Fire & Police Dept. Badges
New York: The company, 1921. * Dinnes, Andrew Ross
Border War Badges: A Guide to South African Military & Police Badges, 1964-1994
2011. * Houser, Todd R., Norm Sorenson, and Ronald L. Myers
A History of the City of Long Beach, California Police Badge
ong Beach, Calif. Ong or ONG may refer to: Arts and media * Ong's Hat, a collaborative work of fiction * “Ong Ong”, a song by Blur from the album The Magic Whip Places * Ong, Nebraska, US, city * Ong's Hat, New Jersey, US, ghost town * Ong River, Odisha, India ...
Long Beach Police Historical Society, 2005. * Mauldin, William
State Police & State Highway Patrol Badge Guide
Meadows of Dan, Va: William Mauldin Productions, 1999. * Taylor, Michael Bradley, and Victor Legender Wilkinson
Badges of Office: An Illustrated Guide to the Helmets and Badges of the British Police 1829 to 1989
Henley-on-Thames: Hazell, 1989.


See also


References

* Setchfield, Frank (1986). ''Official Badge Collector's Guide: From the 1890s to the 1980s''. London: Longman.


External links

*
Badges in the Staten Island Historical Society Online Collections DatabaseBadge Collectors' Circle
{{Authority control Award items