Here are some classic vintage mugshots of “all round thieves,” “warehousebreakers” and “bad characters” from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums via the World’s Best Ever. Their general olde timey-ness is amusing, but the fanciful descriptions of their “marks” are fascinating: “Heart, clasped hands, Ture Love, Evelyn;” “extensively tattooed forearms and hands;” “8 dots tatt. left forearm;” “blue dot between thumb and forefinger rt. hand…” There are also invisible marks of the non-ink variety, like various missing appendages or the “scar on chest” of the one bent over in unremorseful laughter. That one would enjoy his posthumous pseudo-fame.
