The Villages - March 2022 - 22

{ FOR THE
OF COLLECTING }
STORY BY RICA KEENUM | PHOTOS BY NICHOLAS CONZONE
Tom Attardo wasn't
looking for
trouble, but it found him by way of a
badge. The tarnished silver emblem is shaped
like a shield. The words " Watchman " and
" Five Borough Division, The Bronx " are engraved
in the metal, along with the numbers
283. When Attardo saw it in an antique shop
in Georgia, he knew it had belonged to his dad.
What he didn't know was that it would become one
of more than 500 pieces, along with more than 6,000 patches in a
collection. It would lead him to a hobby he calls " trouble, " but in
the very best way.
Attardo has designated a whole room to his
collection, his man cave in The Villages, where
the badges gleam behind glass cases. Some are
gold-filled and heavy as a paper weight, others
are thin and tinny. They belonged to law
enforcement, judges, special agents and investigators
in various states.
And while his collection is intriguing
and it has allowed him to travel
to various conferences and swap
meets, connecting with other hobbyists
and even presenting his pieces
to Boy Scouts and other interested
people, the draw for Attardo is history - the
archeological dig, the research and documentation.
" My wife says I run it like a business, " he says, flipping
through the library of binders he's used to meticulously catalog
the details of every piece.
22
MARCH 2022
Love

The Villages - March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Villages - March 2022

Contents
The Villages - March 2022 - Cover1
The Villages - March 2022 - Contents
The Villages - March 2022 - 1
The Villages - March 2022 - 2
The Villages - March 2022 - 3
The Villages - March 2022 - 4
The Villages - March 2022 - 5
The Villages - March 2022 - 6
The Villages - March 2022 - 7
The Villages - March 2022 - 8
The Villages - March 2022 - 9
The Villages - March 2022 - 10
The Villages - March 2022 - 11
The Villages - March 2022 - 12
The Villages - March 2022 - 13
The Villages - March 2022 - 14
The Villages - March 2022 - 15
The Villages - March 2022 - 16
The Villages - March 2022 - 17
The Villages - March 2022 - 18
The Villages - March 2022 - 19
The Villages - March 2022 - 20
The Villages - March 2022 - 21
The Villages - March 2022 - 22
The Villages - March 2022 - 23
The Villages - March 2022 - 24
The Villages - March 2022 - 25
The Villages - March 2022 - 26
The Villages - March 2022 - 27
The Villages - March 2022 - 28
The Villages - March 2022 - 29
The Villages - March 2022 - 30
The Villages - March 2022 - 31
The Villages - March 2022 - 32
The Villages - March 2022 - 33
The Villages - March 2022 - 34
The Villages - March 2022 - 35
The Villages - March 2022 - 36
The Villages - March 2022 - 37
The Villages - March 2022 - 38
The Villages - March 2022 - 39
The Villages - March 2022 - 40
The Villages - March 2022 - 41
The Villages - March 2022 - 42
The Villages - March 2022 - 43
The Villages - March 2022 - 44
The Villages - March 2022 - 45
The Villages - March 2022 - 46
The Villages - March 2022 - 47
The Villages - March 2022 - 48
The Villages - March 2022 - 49
The Villages - March 2022 - 50
The Villages - March 2022 - 51
The Villages - March 2022 - 52
The Villages - March 2022 - 53
The Villages - March 2022 - 54
The Villages - March 2022 - 55
The Villages - March 2022 - 56
The Villages - March 2022 - 57
The Villages - March 2022 - 58
The Villages - March 2022 - 59
The Villages - March 2022 - 60
The Villages - March 2022 - 61
The Villages - March 2022 - 62
The Villages - March 2022 - Cover3
The Villages - March 2022 - Cover4
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