Addison B.C. Jones was one of the most prolific manufacturers of replica badges in the history of police collecting. I first came in contact with him in the 1960s when he was located in Beverly Hills.

He produced a hand made photo copied catalog showing the outlines of his badges, all of which were old west designs. He cut them out from metal sheets, curved them hand lettered them and attached the pins. If they were ball tipped stars he dimpled the points. I don't remember him ever selling a badge, he just collected and traded.

When L.A. Stamp (Los Angeles Stamp & Stationery, Larsco, L.A. Rubber Stamp) company went out of business and auctioned off all their samples, rejects, blanks and seals, along with some manufacturing equipment including hallmark stamps, most eventually ended up with Mr. Jones.

For many years all L.A. Stamp badges were suspect because Mr. Jones produced so many.

Some of his blanks were procured from the Ed Jones Company and some blanks and seals from C.H. Hanson. 

Mr. Jones died in the 90s and his massive  collection was pieced at gun shows and swap meets.

When his badges show up on ebay, they usually go quite high, as the quality of his workmanship was so high that few people can tell the difference between his and real department issue badges.

Many of the current plethora of old west replicas, are not replicas of old west pieces at all, but remakes and castings of Mr. Jones badges.

His badges are also mistakenly authenticated by badge "experts" and appear in many collector books and publications with incorrect history.

In his later years he did some hard enameling, and the quality is not up to that of commercial badge manufacturers.  Roughly finished or porous looking enamel on the L.A. Stamp badges is one of the ways these replicas can be spotted. The plain silver finish stars are a bit tougher. He almost always used a serif type style on these, and there will be little or no wear.

 Time, experience and buying errors are the best teachers.  Even though Mr. Jones products are fantasy, replicas or assembled badge parts, they are becoming increasingly rare and more valuable.