Souvenir patch/badge collecting is called scutelliphily, from Latin 'scutellus', meaning 'little shield', and Greek 'phileein', meaning 'to love', in other words the love or study of little shields, which is a neat description of most souvenir badges (usually called badges in Britain, patches in the U.S.) It is generally called Patch collecting in the United States and badge collecting in the UK.

Souvenir Patches/Badges

Souvenir patches/badges are usually shield-shaped, and generally contain a coat of arms, a map or a miniature view. The patches/badges can be made of any material, but are usually woven or embroidered fabric, though they can also be made from paper or, increasingly, plastic. The hobby is also known as 'stickophily', mainly in France.

Other types of collectible patches/badges include police or service patches, space mission patches, Scout patches, fashion patches, political and sports stickers, walking stick labels, car window pennants, pin badges, etc, etc etc. Collecting metal badges or pins, either military or civil, is known as faleristics.

The History of Souvenir Badge Collecting

Badges of one sort or another have been collected since ancient times. Greek and Roman pilgrims to pagan shrines often made collections of miniature images of gods and goddesses or their emblems, and Christian pilgrims later did the same. Usually medieval Christian pilgrim badges were metal pin badges - most famously the shell symbol showing the wearer had been to the shrine of St. James at Compostela in Spain. These were stuck in hats or into clothing and hard working pilgrims could assemble quite a collection, as mentioned by Chaucer in his 'Canterbury Tales'.