If you want to buy a truncheon, a traditional wooden British police design truncheon, you’re in the right place.
The traditional truncheon as once used by the British police isn’t an offensive weapon per se in the UK. Rather; it depends on your intent and what you are doing with it at the time. Other articles on this site go into that in more detail.
In many countries, having an item such as a truncheon for self-defence is quite legal. In the UK the law is a little greyer. The other articles on this site go into the legalities of truncheons in the UK in more detail. Do read them if a Brit so you are fully informed. We wouldn’t advocate you doing anything illegal.
We sell a variety of different unusual and niche goods on various websites and online platforms. Many of which – like these truncheons – are exclusive to us that we have had manufactured ourselves.
We’re always looking for new product ideas and some of them come from unlikely places. Some time ago, a customer of ours who is a collector of militaria, handcuffs, whistles, badges and general police memorabilia suggested truncheons.
He remarked that you cannot buy a truncheon on platforms such as Amazon and eBay, and they can be somewhat hard to obtain, expensive and often in poor condition being usually fifty-plus years old.
It turns out that Amazon and eBay lump the simple classic coppers’ wooden truncheon together with all other types of batons such as the nightstick, billy club, cosh, tonfa, sceptre, mace, clubbell, nunchaku, side-handle baton and the expanding baton or collapsible baton. Some of which are illegal in the UK.
They call them all ‘weapons’ for simplicity and ban them all from their platforms, even if they are antiques. You can buy a baseball bat on those sites, but you can’t buy a truncheon. Nobody ever used a baseball bat as a weapon, right?
When something isn’t available on the big platforms, we like to have a look and see why. And then establish if there is a demand. And if we think so, see if we can bring it to market at a reasonable price. That’s what we do.
As market research, we decided to buy a truncheon. In fact, we bought a few old police truncheons from various auction houses up and down the country to have a look at some.
It turns out there was no standard design. Each force had its own made and they differed in design, size, colour and finish.
They weren’t cheap either. Most came in at around £70 to £120 each when auctioneers fees, VAT, usurious postage and ‘handling’ charges were added by the auction houses. And that’s after the tedium of registering, registering a debit card and being ‘approved’ to bid in advance by each one.
Once we had a few different ones of various designs and sizes, they were all on a desk in our office and you know what happened? Almost every guy that came in our office (clients, reps, delivery drivers, insurance men, MDs of other companies, you name it) spotted them, grabbed one and started handling it while nodding and smiling.
Then they all asked if any were for sale.
People wouldn’t leave them alone! It’s a man toy thing I think. Some things we blokes just like to play about with (no, not those).
Air pistols and rifles are another. Show a bloke a gun of any description, be it an air pistol or a water pistol and he’ll soon be playing with it. Same with old penknives, interesting tools and truncheons.
We just want one. We sometimes don’t even know why. We just do. Like women when they’re looking at yet another pair of shoes. They don’t need them, they just want them.
Ladies, if you are looking for a ‘not on the high street’ original gift for your man, consider a truncheon.
By now, we had nine slightly different ones on the desk. What we did next was ask everyone who expressed an interest in them which one they liked the best. One, in particular, got most of the votes. This one:
It’s a late 1950s or early 1960s one from Leeds City Police (we know that as it was stamped Leeds CP – many truncheons were stamped for the forces they went to).
For our American and other foreign readers who don’t know where Leeds is, it’s a city in Yorkshire, England.
We then asked two different police officers we know which one they liked the best and considered to be a ‘standard’ or a ‘proper’ old coppers’ truncheon. Both chose the Leeds one as well. One remarked it was identical to the one he got when he first joined the force.
So we had a winner.
We then had them made by a specialist woodturning company, copied exactly, and here they are.
Almost identical, right? Take a closer look.
We’re pleased with how they came out. They’re made of ethically sourced Malaysian Oak, they’re not expensive and they ship worldwide.
If you want one, you can learn more and buy one online by clicking the button below.
