Rich, Surrey and Colonnelli Win San Diego
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Volume 36-Number 1 January-February 2018 Number 62 Rich, Surrey And Colonnelli Win San Diego Mike Rich, Lewis Surrey and Phil Colonnelli won top honors in the outstanding display contest at the San Diego show on October 28. Rich was honored for his San Diego Harbor Police collection. Surrey was cited for his New York City badges. Colonnelli was honored for his California collection. The San Diego Police Historical Association hosted the show. San Diego show host Dan Weiss has been with SDPD for 11 years and has By Lewis Surrey, Guest Writer done three shows over the years, although the last one was six years ago. The October 28 show was a 37 table sellout and attracted collectors from fi ve states. SAN DIEGO, Calif. – A chill was in the air the morning of October 28, and a chill ran Hopefully, it will become an annual event. Lewis Surrey photograph Mike Rich won the “Best of Show” award at the San Diego show. He featured Lewis Surrey lives in San Diego County but is originally from New York City, an outstanding collection of badges, patches, artifacts and memorabilia from the so it was only natural that he brought his New York City law enforcement badge San Diego Harbor Police, which patrols the airport, harbor and areas around it. collection to the San Diego show. The extensive collection earned the “Best Rich retired last year. Lewis Surrey photograph Badge Display” award on October 28. Lewis Surrey photograph Page 2 POLICE COLLECTORS NEWS Jan.-Feb. 2018 The San Diego Police Department Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP) set up a table outside the hall at the pistol range on October 28. The volunteers, who provide a wide variety of services to the department and city, have a very cool ride that they put on display. Lewis Surrey photograph The fi rst San Diego show in six years was busy all morning and well into the afternoon. Collectors came from throughout California, as well as Idaho, New Coff ee and doughnuts were provided for breakfast and the SDPD Explorers off ered Mexico, Nevada and Washington. It was a 37-table sellout. It is hoped the show hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. All 37 tables sold out. Tableholders were Dave Krohn. Phil Colonnelli, Nathan Semel, will become an annual event. Lewis Surrey photograph Mike Rich, Jim Munding, Dean Tresch, Brian Norris, R.C. Yoshioka, Steve Didway, Dennis Houser, Gonzo Gonzales, Chula Vista PD Historical Society, Ken Toler, Bob San Diego Show ...Continued Harms, Calvin Chow, Harry Shugart, Danny Harness, Keith Bushey, Badge Frame and me. through me as well. There was a vehicle display outside the range building. Colonnelli brought a Ford For the fi rst time in six years, a collectors show was being held in San Diego, close Mustang traffi c unit from Inglewood PD. Mark Zeller brought a car from Escondido PD. enough to my home that I could drive to it and bring a lot of my collection for display. There were several old and new SDPD cars from the museum collection. This newspaper alerted me to the fact the show was happening. Thanks, Mike! I don’t Assistant Chief Chuck Kaye stopped by to judge the displays and hand out the think I would have known about it otherwise. awards. I loaded my stuff and excitedly started the 45 minute drive to the show, careful not to Members of the SDPD Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol were in the house. knock around my badge frames! SDPD has a police museum and the cars displayed at the show are carefully The San Diego Police Historical Association and Museum hosted the event at the maintained for shows or events. SDPD Pistol Range. As usual, the show was very busy from early to late morning. It was still a bit busy into I almost lost my balance on a .40 caliber round lying on the parking lot. All the the mid-afternoon. planning, packing, organizing and decorating prepared me for any eventuality, so I kept Collectors came from all over the state of California, as well as from Idaho, Nevada, my balance, took advantage of the early opening of the range building to set up and had New Mexico and Washington. a great time. The Explorers also helped set up and break down tables and sold tickets. Without Dan Weiss of the SDPD was the main organizer of the show, along with Steve Willard their eff orts and assistance, the show would not have been possible. and Ed Lavelle. They are historical association members. The San Diego Police Explorers were instrumental to the success of the Dan Weiss, a San Diego police offi cer, was honored by the historical show at the San Diego Police Pistol Range on October 28. The future police association for hosting the show and promoting city police history. The award offi cers sold tickets, helped set up and break down tables and served breakfast was presented by Association Commissioner III Maxine Gellens (center) as and lunch to the collectors. Lewis Surrey photograph Assistant Chief Chuck Kaye (right) looked on. Lewis Surrey photograph Jan.-Feb. 2018 POLICE COLLECTORS NEWS Page 3 The San Diego Police Historical Association and Museum has a collection of vintage patrol cars that appear at shows and events. This Ford is white with Phil Colonnelli (right) accepts the “Best Patch Display” award from SDPD a single red revolving roof-mounted emergency light and siren and a spotlight Assistant Chief Chuck Kaye (center) as show host Dan Weiss looks on. mounted on the driver’s side. Lewis Surrey photograph Colonnelli has a fabulous collection of California law enforcement emblems and Tresch came the farthest, from Spokane, Wash., to go to the show and visit relatives. was honored for another outstanding exhibit. Lewis Surrey photograph The majority of what he brought was from Washington but also from other western states. The award ceremony was held just before lunch as the Explorers got ready for the He has been collecting for 15 years and really enjoys going to shows. onslaught. Tresch’s wife, Sybil, is a collector of World War I Canadian Expeditionary Force Colonnelli got the award for the Best Patch Display. badges. She said they also attend military collectors shows looking for these badges. I won Best Badge Display. Munding came from West Covina to make sales and trades, He has been collecting Rich won Best of Show for his comprehensive and outstanding San Diego Harbor for more than 40 years and still fi nds it fun. So do I! Police display. He retired as a sergeant on the department last year. The agency patrols “Chopper the Bike Dog,” among with his handler, Mark Shaff er, showed up in the the harbor, the airport and areas around the harbor. It is one of only a few departments afternoon to make the rounds and pose for photos. “Chopper” has his own SDPD badge that exist in the city. and patch collection! Rich Magyar traveled from Los Angeles and showed a 24-karat gold Los Angeles Toler has an extraordinary collection from the San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department. County Sheriff ’s Department deputy sheriff ’s badge that was once presented to Ronald Besides the usual patches and badges, he had manuals, historical information and Reagan when he was California governor. photographs from the history of his department. He has been going to the shows since Magyar also brought impressive displays from the California State Police, a defunct the late 1980s. agency, and the White House. His White House collection is awesome. Toler displayed a version of the sheriff ’s department’s manual, along with a calling Houser and his wife, Nancy, made the 90 minute trip from San Bernardino where card sent by the San Diego sheriff to the Ventura County sheriff . On the back is a he works for the SBPD. He represented their historical society and brought a very postmark from May 20, 1924. It includes information on a criminal case. impressive display from the society’s collection. He has been a collector for 34 years. Semel is another San Diego collector. He brought along a very unique collection of Norris, who is from Lakeside, had never shown his collection before. He displayed 57 SDPD badges as well as SDSO badges. of the 58 California county sheriff ’s department badges. It took him 45 years to complete I am originally from New York City, so I brought my NYC collection to the show. I have the collection. It was only his third show. been in the hobby for 17 years. I started collecting when I was 13. I had some theme displays, including New York City detective badges (although only Lewis Surrey (right) won “Best Badge Display” at the San Diego show on Longtime California collector Rich Magyar (left) featured a Los Angeles October 28. He was honored for his New York City collection. It was the fi rst County Sheriff ’s Department deputy sheriff ’s badge that was once presented opportunity that Surrey had to display his collection in six years, and the veteran to Ronald Reagan when he was California governor. The badge is made of collector took full advantage of it. Calvin Chow photograph 24-karat gold and was personalized to the governor. Lewis Surrey photograph Page 4 POLICE COLLECTORS NEWS Jan.-Feb. 2018 A very impressive collection of badges from the White House and other federal agencies in Washington, D.C. were part of Rich Magyar’s outstanding display at the San Diego show. His White House collection includes some old The California State Police protected state facilities from 1887 to 1995.