Sheriff Andy Taylor Screen Used and Screen Matched Badge

doctorloomis

New Member
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I recently purchased this badge from the estate of Richard O. Linke who had owned it for 50 years. After watching all 249 episodes I was able to definitively screen match it to four episodes...including the final appearance of Barney Fife and the final episode of the show! It is the only screen matched Andy Taylor badge in existence and I truly feel it’s one of the most incredible pieces of memorabilia in American television history.
 
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That is great!
But I have to ask, how do you know it's not a backup?

A back up???? Did you not see any of the photos nor watch the video? It’s an absolute SCREEN MATCH. It’s the only SCREEN MATCHED Griffith badge known to exist. The Smithsonian and the Andy Griffith museum have both spoken to me about this badge. This is no back up.
 
A back up???? Did you not see any of the photos nor watch the video? It’s an absolute SCREEN MATCH. It’s the only SCREEN MATCHED Griffith badge known to exist. The Smithsonian and the Andy Griffith museum have both spoken to me about this badge. This is no back up.
Wow, I really hit nerve, didn't I? o_O
I was just curious. The video and photos don't show detail to the point where you can know for certain it's this badge and not another made just like it. I'd bet a few bucks that at some point they made more than one of these and was just wondering if it could be that.
I'm not saying it isn't the badge, just saying the detail you provided doesn't prove it's this exact badge.
Clearly it's either the badge or made from the same production run, I see little question there.
 
Wow, I really hit nerve, didn't I? o_O
I was just curious. The video and photos don't show detail to the point where you can know for certain it's this badge and not another made just like it. I'd bet a few bucks that at some point they made more than one of these and was just wondering if it could be that.
I'm not saying it isn't the badge, just saying the detail you provided doesn't prove it's this exact badge.
Clearly it's either the badge or made from the same production run, I see little question there.


You didn’t hit a nerve at all. There will always be questioners and dissenters....that’s part of life. The bottom line is the badge has multiple imperfections and flaws. Those imperfections and flaws allow for the screen match. At the end of the day I look for ONE THING to disqualify the badge. ONE THING to impeach the badge. That one thing does not exist. Every imperfection matches. Every odd shape of the letters match. Every space between the letters match. Nothing....zero....doesn’t match. Now, with all this evidence presented to you, you can choose to believe it is a back up....or you can choose to believe you’re looking at possibly the greatest piece of memorabilia in television history. I know what I believe....what the Smithsonian believes....what other major Hollywood collectors believe. It’s all up to you.
 
Wow, I really hit nerve, didn't I? o_O
I was just curious. The video and photos don't show detail to the point where you can know for certain it's this badge and not another made just like it. I'd bet a few bucks that at some point they made more than one of these and was just wondering if it could be that.
I'm not saying it isn't the badge, just saying the detail you provided doesn't prove it's this exact badge.
Clearly it's either the badge or made from the same production run, I see little question there.


One other thing to consider.....virtually every episode has BLACK badges. Only a handful of episodes have a BLUE badge. The chances of more than one BLUE badge would be nil. Of the two or three badges other than mine known to exist, all of them are black and the lettering is perfect. No imperfections, no flaws, no issues. My badge, being blue and with significant imperfections, makes the likelihood of it NOT being the actual screen used badge virtually impossible. Please look at the attached photos and you’ll clearly see the perfect lettering of the badges that appear in almost every episode. These badges are impossible to screen match because they’re perfect. Mine is just the opposite and as I said above, NOTHING....not one thing....disqualifies my badge.
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I think some clarifications are in order.

The RPF is not a casual collectors forum, many members here spend years studying screen captures, photographs, physical props (and their provenance) as well as any all available replicas. As a result, any definitive statements and the proof that goes a long with that statement are going to be scrutinized. So if the member making the claims doesn't fully understand or appreciate that fact, it needs to be pointed out that no ill will is intended as it is just business as usual around here. :)

Also, screen matched is not a question of "nothing rules it out", it's more a matter of matching up specific markings/details that can distinguish the item from other found items, replicas or other production made props. The comparison that you show in the first post clearly shows that the items are of the same design and the information that you provide in the video does make a very strong case for the badges being created from the same mold, but the screen capture is way too blurry to pick out any specific details that would make it screen matched. None of this is to say that what you have is not what you think it is, it's just not clear that it's screen matched.

Again, none of this is intended in anyway to be attacking you or your claims, just simply what goes on around here. So hopefully you can view it as such and also know that I for one (and others I am sure), appreciate the education regarding the use of different color lettering on the badges as well as the other information you have provided.
 
I think some clarifications are in order.

The RPF is not a casual collectors forum, many members here spend years studying screen captures, photographs, physical props (and their provenance) as well as any all available replicas. As a result, any definitive statements and the proof that goes a long with that statement are going to be scrutinized. So if the member making the claims doesn't fully understand or appreciate that fact, it needs to be pointed out that no ill will is intended as it is just business as usual around here. :)

Also, screen matched is not a question of "nothing rules it out", it's more a matter of matching up specific markings/details that can distinguish the item from other found items, replicas or other production made props. The comparison that you show in the first post clearly shows that the items are of the same design and the information that you provide in the video does make a very strong case for the badges being created from the same mold, but the screen capture is way too blurry to pick out any specific details that would make it screen matched. None of this is to say that what you have is not what you think it is, it's just not clear that it's screen matched.

Again, none of this is intended in anyway to be attacking you or your claims, just simply what goes on around here. So hopefully you can view it as such and also know that I for one (and others I am sure), appreciate the education regarding the use of different color lettering on the badges as well as the other information you have provided.


I promise there is no ill will here nor did I feel any toward me. I’m not offended in any way and I hope I have not offended anyone. This said, I will disagree with you on a couple of points. Screen matching and photo matching absolutely do include ANY characteristic that disqualifies the piece in question. I do and have done authentication work for multiple auction houses with my expertise in game worn sports jerseys. If ANYTHING does not match up, that’s enough to impeach the item. Period. Nothing with this badge is impeaching. Nothing geometrically is off. Secondly, I also disagree the photos are too blurry to call it a match. Look closely and you’ll see odd letter shapes...nicks and dings in the metal...and weird spacing between the letters. My badge is virtually completely different than the badge(s) used in 98% of the episodes. My badge looks nothing like the standard badge....color included....and the uniqueness of its obvious imperfections are clearly seen in the screen captures. The odds of a second blue badge...with the identical weird letters...weird letter spacing...identical dings in the metal...and the same imperfections.....is zero. In closing I respect your opinion and as I said there’s no ill will. I hope to continue posting here and learning about other collectibles in the process.
 
More photos of what the typical badge looks like. Mine is COMPLETELY different...color, font, spacing, and imperfections. Only a few episodes featured a blue badge....and every one of those episodes matches my badge. The chances of a second blue badge....that’s looks exactly precisely like mine...with the exact same flaws, imperfections, dings, and font ....are zero. Absolutely zero.
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I think what a few have tried to say is that prop companies and productions usually have a few matching pieces created at one time. If the factory who made the badge, was making a new version with blue text, they most likely created a new mold for the piece, and might have run two or three so production had a back up or two. I know that they had previous black text versions, but they would want back ups of the new blue text just in case during filming of an episode, one got lost or destroyed. They would not want text changing color across the episode. And if they made two or three from the same mold, all new pieces would have the same imperfections, same letter spacing and same wonky text thicknesses. After all, they would have come from the same mold. That is why people are asking how you are 100% positive this couldn’t be a back up.

Now I do have a question about the edges of the one you bought... are they cut due to photo cropping? I see some of the round circles are cut off on your photos and was curious if that is how it is made?
 
I think what a few have tried to say is that prop companies and productions usually have a few matching pieces created at one time. If the factory who made the badge, was making a new version with blue text, they most likely created a new mold for the piece, and might have run two or three so production had a back up or two. I know that they had previous black text versions, but they would want back ups of the new blue text just in case during filming of an episode, one got lost or destroyed. They would not want text changing color across the episode. And if they made two or three from the same mold, all new pieces would have the same imperfections, same letter spacing and same wonky text thicknesses. After all, they would have come from the same mold. That is why people are asking how you are 100% positive this couldn’t be a back up.

Now I do have a question about the edges of the one you bought... are they cut due to photo cropping? I see some of the round circles are cut off on your photos and was curious if that is how it is made?


Guys....please take a look. I think I have more evidence.


 
Guys....please take a look. I think I have more evidence.


Again, not saying you are not right and that this is not the badge in question, I still think you are not looking at this logically. You are dead set on proving that it IS the badge that you are not wanting to see other possibilities.

In your video you keep asking the following question....

“are we to believe the maker of this badge, the guy who stamped it, would look at the misaligned pressed star on the badge and be okay with it? Are we to believe that he wouldn’t want to fix it when he knows it is going to be on national tv? Are we going to believe he would be okay with sending a misaligned piece to the production?

The answer is YES.

And here is why I say that.

I. A slight misalignment on a prop is different than a misalignment on a real police badge used by a police force. They would go for perfection on badges used daily. But for a prop that will be seen at a distance and blurry on a 1960’s tv show - which at the time was not hi-definition - you can be sure that they would not be concerned about perfection. So if they stamped two or three cockeyed pieces, I’m sure they were not concerned about starting over. After all, resetting up and stamping a new set is money out of their pocket and why do that if what they have will work at a distance?

2. Again, you had asked: “Are we going to believe he would be okay with sending a misaligned piece to the production?” Well... didn’t THIS badge make it to the production? That would mean he was “okay with sending it to production”. Your argument is moot if he DID look at it with the imperfections AND choose to send it to the studio. You proved that HE WOULD look at the star from the offset stamp and be okay with it, as he let this one go through.... which leads me to believe that he would let a back up or two be shipped as well.

If he felt it was not good enough, and he was going to reset the machine for the next one, he would have tossed this one and remade a couple perfect ones with the new stamp. But he didn’t on this one. And if he was thinking “this is good enough” on this one, he could have pressed a couple back ups with the same misaligned stamp.

Again, I’m not saying this isn’t the real deal and there is no mistake it was made for production. We just do not know for sure if it is screen used. As noted, multiple pieces could have been molded or stamped at the same time, so imperfections could be across them all.

Now, If you find two blue text badges shown in the shows, and one has a dent or divot, you would be able to say, “while they had an identical badge, with all the text spacing differences and alignment issues, that one had a dent on the corner or a divot on the side where it looks to have dropped, and that damage matches the badge I have... then that could be indisputable evidence.
 
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