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 North Carolina Hunting & Fishing License Badges 

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 The items shown on this page are not for sale, but please contact me if you have any for sale or trade.  There are some NC badges, as well as other states on my sale pages. Fishing and Hunting License  Sales Pages

License Badges

All badges are resident, celluloid, and 1 3/4 inches  unless noted. 

From 1927 to 1939 the State of North Carolina issued badges that you had to wear when hunting or fishing.

All North Carolina Hunting & Fishing licenses badges are hard to find. There are many badges not shown here. There were  non-resident badges and a complimentary badge.  

The County badges would only allow you to hunt or fish in the county they were issued in. They were cheaper than the state badges. You were required to wear the badge when hunting or fishing. 

The six all metal badges are unique to North Carolina. No other state issued metal badges like these. Especially the Bluegill shaped badge, and the stylized Acorn shaped badge. While it is not the rarest badge, the bluegill is one of  the most unusual badges from any state. 

There also were North Carolina Licensed guide badges issued, I have seen them from 1939-1941, but I do not know the exact years they were issued yet. 

There also were both state and county North Carolina Migratory Waterfowl licenses issued. I have seen three different ones, one state, two county. None of them had a year listed on the badge itself, but my guess would be late 1930s to early 1940s. 

Paper Licenses that went with the badges. 

You also were required to have the paper license that went with the badge in your possession. This was to prevent multiple individuals from using a badge. Some badges had a pocket on the back to hold the folded license. 

Later Paper Licenses

North Carolina Hunting & Fishing Regulation Booklets

 North Carolina Lifetime License Buttons

These were given to hunters or fishermen  when they bought a lifetime license from the state. These are not "official" license badges, required to be worn, they were just a thank you gift from the state for buying the license. 1 3/4 inch. 

North Carolina Fish Net Tags

Used on gill nets and etc. 

North Carolina Fish & Game Warden Badges

Other North Carolina Wildlife Badges

Wildlife In North Carolina State Fair Buttons

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission State Fair pins This is a list of the pins, eventually a photo of all the pins. 

"The NC Wildlife Resources Commission State Fair pins feature a different species each year. The species correspond to the theme of the commission's State Fair exhibit. 

The oldest dated State Fair pin is 1983. There are two others, squirrel and heron, that don't show a date. The squirrel came first in 1981, the heron in 1982. 

* The pin for the 1992 State Fair had an incorrect year. It was dated 1993. The two 1993 pins feature a morning dove and a turtle. The species for 1992 was the turtle, the 1993 pin has a morning dove.

** The 1997 pin also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. Its date is 1947-1997.

 In 2002 there were 2 pins given out at the exhibit. One was the Eastern Coral Snake as the species pin. The other was a larger pin featuring the commission's stationery logo.

 The 2002 pin was the first year the species was labeled on the pin. They have been labeled since then." (Information courtesy of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Department. )

I do have some of the State Fair pins, as well as North Carolina, and other Hunting & Fishing Licenses and pins for sale.  Click Here to visit that page.

North Carolina has a wonderful, award winning, wildlife and nature magazine called Wildlife in North Carolina, it is published by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources commission and features the wildlife of the state, fishing, hunting, and just observing nature. Beautiful nature  photography, and excellent writing. Click Here to Subscribe.

Other items from North Carolina State Wildlife

2005 North Carolina Sample Badges

The badges below were designed by an artist, and submitted in 2004 to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. They were not selected for use, but the designs are still under consideration for some use in the future. The artist had 100 sample sets made up, and the wildlife commission gave permission for him to sell them, as long as he waited till after 2005, and added a disclaimer that they were not official, nor were they endorsed by the Wildlife Commission. Who knows, maybe one day we will see badges again. These are wonderful designs. Well made, metal Around 2 inches. 

Other North Carolina Hunting & Fishing Items 

I am always interested in buying North Carolina badges both ones not shown here, or these same badges for sale or trade. 

I collect, sell, and trade fishing & hunting license badges. If you have any badges to sell or trade, please e-mail me at the address below. I am primarily interested in southern licenses, but will consider other badges. I also collect Field & Stream award and honor pins, and other fishing related pins. If you have any for sale or trade, please contact me below: 

 Click Here to e-mail

Telephone: (828)-437-5938 10-4:30 Mon., Tues., Thurs. -Sat. Eastern time. Closed Weds. and Sun. 

The badges on this page are not for sale, I do have some North Carolina badges, and other hunting and fishing badges for sale or trade on the following pages:

Old Fishing and Hunting License  Sales Pages 

Fake North Carolina Badge

The badge, above left, came from the Bob Timberlake Gallery in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Cost was $2.95. It isn't a full reproduction, as you can see it is a repro of the 1938 badge, but they changed the date to 1937 (someone told me Timberlake was born in 1937), and they reversed the colors of the black and silver, the pin on the back is different. The new badge is constructed out of cheaper metal, the old badge is nickel plate on brass. New badge is flat, the old badge is concave. . Even with these differences I will bet some folks will be selling the new badge as old, and probably some will be replacing the new style pin, and dirtying the badge up a bit to make it look old. The new badge is made in China.  I have seen  a reproduction  a 1939 County Hunting badge, that was a very poor fake done on a modern badge machine, with poor photocopying.  I saw seven North Carolina fakes being sold on eBay as reproductions. The seller listed the size as 2 1/4 inches. They looked pretty good, and if someone just had a picture to go by, and did not know the size, they could fool even a regular collector. 

The last few months I have been seeing many fake badges for sale on eBay. Some are 1 3/4 inch fakes, some  aged to look old and fool collectors. Some are 2 1/4 inch reproductions. I have seen New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, California, Mississippi, and others. Some sellers are selling them as old, some are selling them as reproductions. One of the problems is that even the sellers that are being honest are selling badges that are not plainly marked as reproductions. Unscrupulous sellers are buying these badges on eBay and then selling them as old, original badges. The quality of these fakes vary from good quality fakes that might fool a collector, to very poor fakes that are unlikely to fool anyone with a personal inspection of the badge. The problem is that all a person has to go by on eBay is a small picture, the description, and the experience and honesty of the seller. Know your seller. If you have any doubts ask questions, ask if they will guarantee the authenticity and age of the badge. .

I also collect other fishing and hunting items, rods, reels, lures, accessories and memorabilia, in addition to other fishing and hunting badges, pins, and medals, some of which will be shown if you click on the links below:

Wanted: Hunting & Fishing License Badges

Hunting and Fishing Badges, Pins, Medals, and etc

Hunting & Fishing Memorabilia

Field & Stream Badge Information

Every badge I sell is an authentic, old, badge, unless noted otherwise. I guarantee such, and if you have doubts, you are welcome to return the item for a refund. Make sure any dealer will stand behind what he sells.

To visit one of our other pages, click on one of the links below:

Happy Collecting!

Text and Images Copyright 1997-2012 Drexel Grapevine Antiques © 

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