Introduction to Truncheons and Tipstaves (Page 2)

Dating Truncheons

It is fortunate that truncheons often carry a number of clues that help date and identify a piece. The most obvious aid to dating a truncheon or tipstaff is to look for an actual date. Many pieces are dated, although often the reason for the specific date used is not known. Sometimes it is possible to link dates to events. In particular a number of Victorian pieces exist with the dates 1842 and 1868. These represent the Chartist riots and Fennian uprisings of those times.

Royal Ciphers and Coats of Arms

The next most obvious clue is to look for a royal cipher or coat of arms. As you will see from the following dates any piece identified as coming from the time of William IV dates it to a neat 7 year period.

George I	1714 - 1727
George II	1727 - 1760
George III	1760 - 1820
George IV	1820 - 1830
William IV	1830 - 1837
Victoria	1837 - 1901
Edward VII	1901 - 1910
George V	1910 - 1936
George VI	1936 - 1952

Most ciphers are written with the monarch's initials follows by the Roman numeral for the reign. What is not helpful is when all that can be seen are just the initials GR as this could span decades. Thankfully for the collector the royal family did change the royal arms on a number of occasions giving further opportunities to narrow the date banding. Care should also be taken regarding ciphers in that on the change of a monarch it was not uncommon to alter the cipher to extend the life of the truncheon. A WR for example can be quite easily changed to a VR by scratching out one half of the W.

The following page shows the principle changes in the royal arms from 1714.

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