Prized gem in police collection given toresort town for seaside museum plan

A PRIZE piece in a collection of police memorabilia amassed by a Yorkshire bobby could end up in a planned Museum of the Seaside.

Former Scarborough Pc John Buck built up his collection over the years he spent in the MoD Police Force at Fylingdales from 1964 to 1998.

When he died in December 2008, his family had no room to display the collection so they reluctantly decided to auction most of it off.

Daughter Janet Robinson said: “It was really hard to see Dad’s collection go but we just didn’t know what else to do with it.”

The sale at Duggleby’s Auctioneers in Scarborough in August exceeded the 6,000 estimate.

The items included nearly 100 lots of badges, buttons, belt buckles, helmets, tunics, coats, holsters, truncheons and batons.

But an eye-catching Scarborough Kings Crown badge is to remain in the town, as Pc Buck wished. It hails from the days when Scarborough ran its own police service before it was absorbed into the county force.

Scarborough Museums Trust officials have added the badge to the town’s archive, which could eventually form the basis of a Museum of the Seaside.

Trust chief executive Shirley Collier said: “‘We are indebted to Pc Buck and his family for their generosity.”