Honestly, those really difficult questions to answer. This forum is a great tool for information on cuffs in general. The gallery is a great tool for pictures and names of cuffs. There really isnt an all inclusive source to find the information you are after. Many of us have collected for 10,20, 30 (and even higher) years and have gained that knowledge as we went. I am even surprised by finding a variant or a model of cuff I did not know existed, from time to time. Peter's collection above is a good representation of a lot of cuffs out there. There are other websites out there as well. Sites like
www.blacksteel.com Ushandcuffs.com and others that are listed on the title page for
www.handcuffs.org . Each site generally has a section for links as well. Though some sites havent been updated in quite some time and many of the sites on the links list, no longer exist.
There are reference materials as well. The Handcuffs guide books 1 and 2, David Teeters 2 books on Peerless and S&W, Manacles of the world, Joe Lauhers books (british handcuffs,and the Handcuff annuals) and others. Problem is, many of these are out of print. It takes a while to search for them and find them to purchase. Google searches are often helpful as well. Though many terms you search for in vintage handcuffs, etc, will lead you right back here to the pages of the forum. There are decades of information buried in these pages. There are a lot of pictures missing from older threads on here though, due to the PhotoBucket (pic server site) fiasco of many years ago. Unfortunately, many of the older pics, are just no longer available on the forum here. We lost a lot of information int hat debacle and are slowly rebuilding it with every thread we make on here. The thread series that Joe did for us during quarantine is quite helpful and still has all of its pics. Search for "Cuff of the day" in the search box on here. We all participated in this for a few months and was quite nice connecting with other forum members, like everyone used to in the "olden days" of the forum.
I can say that breaking down your requests will tend to get you more assistance. making a thread asking for the name and model/variation of every handcuff isnt going to get you very far. But, asking things like "how many versions of the model 90 S&W cuff are there", will likely get you an answer. Narrowing things down a bit, definitely will help us to help you, better.
On to your question on ASP cuffs. There was a green Identifier that was made from the original series that had the color over the whole body of the cuffs. I was told by the collector I bought mine from, that it was only available through a Police Supply Company named "Gall's." I never determined if that was true or not, but I have no reason to doubt him. Of course, if only one supply warehouse sold them, their numbers wont be too plentiful. I was lucky to get mine from a collector who was getting out of collecting and sold off everything he had. The first series of ASP cuffs had a red slide for the double lock. But, the resin they used to make the cuff's body was too brittle and would often crack or break when they were dropped and even as they aged. I have seen first series that were broken in the package. They stopped with those and changed the material used on the cuff body. The released the series 2 with a yellow slide for the double lock and with solid, resin bodies. This is the same series that has the solid color identifier cuffs that everyone wants to find. The Ultra Series or series 3, was released with an aluminum frame, as opposed to the steel frames that most cuffs use, to decrease their carrying weight. Even the model 2 had a thin steel frame underneath the resin coating. There were a few other small changes made at that time as well, which you can read up on ASP Ultra cuffs on ASP's website. The last series to be released is the Keyless Double Lock Series at is currently being sold. I guess it could be called the fourth series, but its more like an improvement or a continuation of the 3rd series. So, I suppose you can decide how you want to refer to it. It employs the push button double lock that is used on cuffs like the S&W M&P series, Clejuso and Ralkem to name a few. It allows the officer to apply the double lock without have to use a key to slide the lever. You just push the button located on the spine of the cuff and youre good to go. Hope that helps to unlock one of the mysteries you wanted to solve.
-Richard Knip-
The Green Identifier ASP
The first series ASP with the red double lock slide and the brittle plastic casing.
The 2nd series Identifier with the casing stripped off of one side to show the thin steel frame underneath. The cuff was pretty destroyed on the one side before I stripped of the coating. I decided to turn it into a display piece to show what was under the coating. It was not fun stripping the cuff! LOL!
