Catholic Order of Foresters

Catholic Order of Foresters, rank medals

As collectors we run across the medals and badges of fraternal societies frequently. Rarely encountered, in my experience, are the medals of the Catholic Order Of Foresters. The C.O. F.. is a mutual benefit life insurance society established in Chicago in 1883. It is organized in “courts” on the local, state and national levels with a national convention every four years. As with most such societies there is or was a lot of pomp at the meetings. Every court had a number of officers with each wearing a medal suspended from a log shaped broach inscribed with the office title in enameled letters. There is a complete set of these badges on display in Stevens Point, Wisconsin at the “Call it Antique” antique mall on the west end of Main Street at number 823. The complete set in the original case consists of the following 15 medals: Trustee (3), Financial Secretary, Speaker, Chief Ranger, Vice Chief Ranger, Past Chief Ranger, Recording Secretary, Treasurer all in gold finish. Outside Sentinel, Inside Sentinel, Senior Conductor, Junior Conductor all in silver finish plus the Spiritual Advisor which is a red enamel cross. While not military this is an interesting set and probably the only time in my life that I will ever see one.