TOKEN AUTOMOBILE LICENSED CHAUFFEUR HAT BADGE NEW YORK EXPIRES JULY 1, 1924 362429 EXCELSIOR

F DETAILS DIG FIND SOME GREEN PAINT OFF SUPERFICIAL LIGHT CORROSION FILM, NOT DEEP – PERHAPS RUST FILM.  NO PIN ON BACK

The era of chauffeur badges started almost 100 years ago and lasted until 1928 when, for a couple of significant reasons, they were supplanted by the chauffeur having his profession stamped on his drivers' license.

In recent decades, chauffeur badges have become collectors' items especially popular with collectors who specialize in small accessories and items associated with automobiles.

But for Buffalo's James Sandoro, founder and president of the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum, a not-for-profit educational institution, chauffeur badges have been almost as much an obsession as collecting the antique motor cars that are exhibited in the museum, 263 Michigan St. at 201 Seneca St.

His collection of nearly 100 badges was started 35 to 40 years ago and includes badges from each year between 1909 through 1928 in which they were made.

But possibly the most unusual item in the collection is not a badge, but a paper certificate issued in 1903 to John Keller, a Buffalo chauffeur who worked for a local businessman, John Gaskins.

"Certificates didn't usually survive because they were made of paper and were folded and unfolded so many times that they eventually fell apart," Sandoro said.

Certificates gave way to badges in 1909 and badges in turn were replaced with stamped drivers' licenses.

"There were becoming fewer chauffeurs because more people were wanting to drive themselves around. It was getting more fashionable. With the opening of Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway, major east-west routes, people were deciding to see the country, women were getting into driving and cars were becoming easier to drive," Sandoro said.