Special Markings

Dear fellow collectors,

Some of my handcuffs are not only officially marked, but also bear special individual markings, which are not written by hand, but stamped. So it seem that they were made by the manufacturers themselves and refer to special police or military units who ordered the restraints. Here are some examples. I hope that somebody knows for what one (or more) of the abbreviations might stand for.



A) old R.C.S. adjustable Darbies
Among other things they are marked "SPF". I have read that this stands for "Sheffield Police Force", but also that it might stand for "Singapore Police Force". What is correct?

B) Peerless
The handcuffs were made 04/21/1944, according to friendly Peerless information. Each lock case is marked "FMA". I guess the "A" could have something to do with army, regarding that the restrained is blacked (for camouflage) and made during WWII

C) Hiatt 1960
One side is marked "MET POL" for London's "Metropolitan Police" on the movable bow and "TA" on the stationary bow. I have no idea what this might stand for.

D) Smith & Wesson M-100
This early version (with "Pat's pending") is marked "ZSK" on both bows. Again no idea what this might stand for.



Last but not least I have old Peerless Type 1915 handcuffs, which are wonderfully engraved "Alvin H. Wright". Does anybody know this guy? Maybe he was a famous officer, sheriff or agent.

I am sure that you have more restraints with different individual markings, which you don't know. So how about showing (or stating) them?

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame

After a little bit of Google search I found out, who this Alvin H. Wright might have been.

He was a U.S. Coast Guard member, keeper of the Station Chatham, Massachusetts from 1931 to 1936 and of Station Orleans, Massachusetts from 1938 until the outbreak of World War II. On December 10, 1938 Chief Boatswain Mate Alvin H. Wright directed the rescue of the men from the Boston bream trawler Andover, which came ashore in Chatham during a thick fog.

Now my handcuffs have a kind of history, presumed that it was the same Alvin H. Wright, who owned them.

Sources:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/STA ... ATHAM.html
and
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/STA ... LEANS.html
and
http://capecodtravel.com/humor_lore/shi ... 0997.shtml

Dear fellow collectors,

Some of my handcuffs are not only officially marked, but also bear special individual markings, which are not written by hand, but stamped. So it seem that they were made by the manufacturers themselves and refer to special police or military units who ordered the restraints. Here are some examples. I hope that somebody knows for what one (or more) of the abbreviations might stand for.



A) old R.C.S. adjustable Darbies
Among other things they are marked "SPF". I have read that this stands for "Sheffield Police Force", but also that it might stand for "Singapore Police Force". What is correct?

B) Peerless
The handcuffs were made 04/21/1944, according to friendly Peerless information. Each lock case is marked "FMA". I guess the "A" could have something to do with army, regarding that the restrained is blacked (for camouflage) and made during WWII

C) Hiatt 1960
One side is marked "MET POL" for London's "Metropolitan Police" on the movable bow and "TA" on the stationary bow. I have no idea what this might stand for.

D) Smith & Wesson M-100
This early version (with "Pat's pending") is marked "ZSK" on both bows. Again no idea what this might stand for.



Last but not least I have old Peerless Type 1915 handcuffs, which are wonderfully engraved "Alvin H. Wright". Does anybody know this guy? Maybe he was a famous officer, sheriff or agent.

I am sure that you have more restraints with different individual markings, which you don't know. So how about showing (or stating) them?

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame

Click to expand...

could the Letters TA. be Possibly the Initals of the Owner of the Cuffs at one time. this is referring to the TA in Pic. C

Dear fellow collectors,

Some of my handcuffs are not only officially marked, but also bear special individual markings, which are not written by hand, but stamped. So it seem that they were made by the manufacturers themselves and refer to special police or military units who ordered the restraints. Here are some examples. I hope that somebody knows for what one (or more) of the abbreviations might stand for.



A) old R.C.S. adjustable Darbies
Among other things they are marked "SPF". I have read that this stands for "Sheffield Police Force", but also that it might stand for "Singapore Police Force". What is correct?

B) Peerless
The handcuffs were made 04/21/1944, according to friendly Peerless information. Each lock case is marked "FMA". I guess the "A" could have something to do with army, regarding that the restrained is blacked (for camouflage) and made during WWII

C) Hiatt 1960
One side is marked "MET POL" for London's "Metropolitan Police" on the movable bow and "TA" on the stationary bow. I have no idea what this might stand for.

D) Smith & Wesson M-100
This early version (with "Pat's pending") is marked "ZSK" on both bows. Again no idea what this might stand for.



Last but not least I have old Peerless Type 1915 handcuffs, which are wonderfully engraved "Alvin H. Wright". Does anybody know this guy? Maybe he was a famous officer, sheriff or agent.

I am sure that you have more restraints with different individual markings, which you don't know. So how about showing (or stating) them?

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame

Click to expand...

Atame

The SPF marking is very common, Many Darby cuffs made in the late 1940s through the 1950s era have this marking. I have multiple examples, both RCS and Hiatt.

One pair of my Hiatt SPF cuffs came from Singapore in an ebay deal. The dealer there said it was from the Singapore Police Force and if you look at their web site you can see that they use the "SPF" designation. So I think the Singapore desination is the most reasonable, but I have no hard evidence.

Joe

Dear fellow collectors,

Some of my handcuffs are not only officially marked, but also bear special individual markings, which are not written by hand, but stamped. So it seem that they were made by the manufacturers themselves and refer to special police or military units who ordered the restraints. Here are some examples. I hope that somebody knows for what one (or more) of the abbreviations might stand for.



A) old R.C.S. adjustable Darbies
Among other things they are marked "SPF". I have read that this stands for "Sheffield Police Force", but also that it might stand for "Singapore Police Force". What is correct?

B) Peerless
The handcuffs were made 04/21/1944, according to friendly Peerless information. Each lock case is marked "FMA". I guess the "A" could have something to do with army, regarding that the restrained is blacked (for camouflage) and made during WWII

C) Hiatt 1960
One side is marked "MET POL" for London's "Metropolitan Police" on the movable bow and "TA" on the stationary bow. I have no idea what this might stand for.

D) Smith & Wesson M-100
This early version (with "Pat's pending") is marked "ZSK" on both bows. Again no idea what this might stand for.



Last but not least I have old Peerless Type 1915 handcuffs, which are wonderfully engraved "Alvin H. Wright". Does anybody know this guy? Maybe he was a famous officer, sheriff or agent.

I am sure that you have more restraints with different individual markings, which you don't know. So how about showing (or stating) them?

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame

Click to expand...

Hello Atame,

The TA might stand for "Territorial Army"
but in the context of MET POL I am less sure
as the TA is part of the military.

Klaus

Dear fellow collectors,

Some of my handcuffs are not only officially marked, but also bear special individual markings, which are not written by hand, but stamped. So it seem that they were made by the manufacturers themselves and refer to special police or military units who ordered the restraints. Here are some examples. I hope that somebody knows for what one (or more) of the abbreviations might stand for.



A) old R.C.S. adjustable Darbies
Among other things they are marked "SPF". I have read that this stands for "Sheffield Police Force", but also that it might stand for "Singapore Police Force". What is correct?

B) Peerless
The handcuffs were made 04/21/1944, according to friendly Peerless information. Each lock case is marked "FMA". I guess the "A" could have something to do with army, regarding that the restrained is blacked (for camouflage) and made during WWII

C) Hiatt 1960
One side is marked "MET POL" for London's "Metropolitan Police" on the movable bow and "TA" on the stationary bow. I have no idea what this might stand for.

D) Smith & Wesson M-100
This early version (with "Pat's pending") is marked "ZSK" on both bows. Again no idea what this might stand for.



Last but not least I have old Peerless Type 1915 handcuffs, which are wonderfully engraved "Alvin H. Wright". Does anybody know this guy? Maybe he was a famous officer, sheriff or agent.

I am sure that you have more restraints with different individual markings, which you don't know. So how about showing (or stating) them?

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame

Click to expand...

Hi Guenter,

Maybe you know what the "WK" marking on my Stotz stands for?

Regards,

Lars

www.holstcollection.com

Dear fellow collectors,

Some of my handcuffs are not only officially marked, but also bear special individual markings, which are not written by hand, but stamped. So it seem that they were made by the manufacturers themselves and refer to special police or military units who ordered the restraints. Here are some examples. I hope that somebody knows for what one (or more) of the abbreviations might stand for.



A) old R.C.S. adjustable Darbies
Among other things they are marked "SPF". I have read that this stands for "Sheffield Police Force", but also that it might stand for "Singapore Police Force". What is correct?

B) Peerless
The handcuffs were made 04/21/1944, according to friendly Peerless information. Each lock case is marked "FMA". I guess the "A" could have something to do with army, regarding that the restrained is blacked (for camouflage) and made during WWII

C) Hiatt 1960
One side is marked "MET POL" for London's "Metropolitan Police" on the movable bow and "TA" on the stationary bow. I have no idea what this might stand for.

D) Smith & Wesson M-100
This early version (with "Pat's pending") is marked "ZSK" on both bows. Again no idea what this might stand for.



Last but not least I have old Peerless Type 1915 handcuffs, which are wonderfully engraved "Alvin H. Wright". Does anybody know this guy? Maybe he was a famous officer, sheriff or agent.

I am sure that you have more restraints with different individual markings, which you don't know. So how about showing (or stating) them?

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame

Click to expand...

Hello,

first of all thank you for all the answers.

@Don: I guess, it would be unusual that the owner's initials are stamped. I have/had several restraints with owners names/initials, but those are scratched by hand.

@Joe: My R.C.S. with "SPF" came from England directly. Moreover I have seen several Hiatt Darbies with "SPF" offered at eBay by English sellers. This would mean, that a lot of them did not remain in Singapore, if the "S" stands for this city state.

@Klaus: the "Met Pol" is very faded. Maybe the cuffs changed their owner? But I think that this is unlikely.

@Lars: sorry, I don't know what "WK" might stand for.

Regards,
Guenter aka Atame