Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors I.D. Badge?

~1.5" dia., locking pin on back.
Time period?

What da ya think?

I would guess the war years in the 1940's. Cool stuff!

That is real cool!

6'1", tall fella!

I'd think it's earlier. More like WWI era. Just a gut feel though based on stuff my Granddad left behind.

I've never seen one - anyone else?

War production had been underway for months before they changed their name to Savage Arms Corporation.. so it could be WWI. Wonder if there's both SAVAGE ARMS COMPANY and SAVAGE ARMS CORPORATION badges in that case?

But they had a whole lot of folks working for a lot longer in WW2, and it looks period to then as well. Based on percentages, I'm going with WW2.

The maker mark on the back is "Whitehead and Hoag Company".

Whitehead and Hoag Company

This one was described as "40's Savage Arms employee badge".
Different maker mark as well.

That type of pin closure came out in the late 20's/early 30's.

1935&36 Ithaca Gun Co. photo's that came from the wall's of one of their supervisor's office.Guy in the middle with glasses is their top engraver McGraw.I also have when the boy's signed up for the military.Old pic's are cool.Funny Walt Snyder needed permission to take pic's of these in an Ithaca,N.Y. museum for his book!!

Wonder who all at Savage required such a badge? Doubt line workers would have?? Then there might be bunch more out there. But???
Cool find!

During war years it might have been everybody, especially by WW2 when photography was much more common. Sabotage was a real threat, a lot of powder in the factory.

Or maybe just management. Good question.

"Badges? Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!"😂

Those Savage badges would've been soooo easy for a saboteur to counterfeit back then. I wonder just how effective they were, especially when used in a "one big happy family" environment. I bet it was simply a result of a mid-management control freak whose BIL ran a photography studio. Neat collectibles nonetheless!

It's a pretty safe bet that Gov't contractors all had employee I.D.'s of some sort and also an I.D. Checker at all facility points of entry for security reasons.
That additional security likely ruined "lunch box special" production.

Rick, I have a photo of the 1st pin but with a different person. I would think that since the pin/badge has a photo that is was to allow access to some secure area.

There is another style badge that has either a "S" or a number in the center. Also a warning on the back about the replacement cost for losing the badge. From my experience working at an Army GOCO plant, I would guess that the "S" badge indicated a supervisor that was allowed access to all work areas while the number badge indicated the work area you were assigned to. You were generally assigned to an area and didn't venture outside of that area.

Have also seen an identification card, like a drivers licence with persons photo that would allow access to the plant.

I worked at a factory that produced large parts for the M1A1 Abrams tanks. Been a few years now. But the only ID I used was to get into the parking lot although it was available for any officials that asked. This was just before we kicked Sadam's backside out of Kuwait. Be Well, RZ.