Collector’s Corner
Welcome to Collector’s Corner.
My name is Thomas Price and this article and the ones to follow will be an aid to your own collecting of scouting memorabilia both locally and nationally. This column stems from some ideas that had been tossed around on Facebook. The idea was simple: Provide an insight into collecting from a local level. In today’s world of collecting, the Internet and eBay have made it much simpler and cheaper to trade and collect and to grow collections faster. But this comes at a price, as face to face trading and Trade-O-Rees have diminished in popularity. This column is a nudge back in that direction. Collecting is about the personal relationships people build through it and the bettering of one’s scouting experience over time.
Many of you probably have a shoebox or a bag of patches from events over the years with no real knowledge of value, rarity or importance. Throughout these columns I hope to address these three areas and give everyone a better idea of what they have stuffed in drawers or packed into their attics. I hope to have a new post every three weeks but I need your help in keeping the information accurate and relevant, so if I am off in the number produced, time needed to earn, the event something was issued, please post on the message board the correction because it takes everyone to preserve and accurately identify our history. So without further delay, let’s get into our first column.
Wagion Lodge #6 (90th Ann. Patch Set)
Starting at the Lodge Banquet in 2011, a patch set was first issued in pieces to celebrate the lodge 90th Anniversary. At this time, a White Boarder Flap (S-42); “S’ Meaning fully embroidered flap patch by the American Scouting Historical Society and the International Scouting Collectibles Association; and a six-part weekend patch set was available. Because of shipping problems, no patches were actually at the banquet but could be pre-ordered and they would be shipped. This was soon changed to a pick up at the April Lodge Weekend because of shipping costs.
The center of the weekend patch set was a patch celebrating the 90th Anniversary and featured fireworks, which would be the feature event at the Aug. Lodge weekend. The Banquet patch featured a football player “kicking off” the lodge year. April feature “The Beginning” and a large OA Arrowhead. June featured a dream catcher and as of this date, the Aug. Patch featured a tent, fireworks, a ribbon and a scout. The final piece to be issued in October of 2011, features an alien in a spaceship to represent the future. All patches at 3” Pentagons with Red Boarders and Blue Backgrounds except the center which has a white background. The rarity of these sets was set early when the Banquet patch sold out. The rumor is also the Aug weekend patches needed to be re-ordered because of the demand, making the total number of complete sets at 300 or 350 with extras of some weekend patches.
The White Brd. Flap (S-42) (300 Produced) is paying tribute to the (F-1) design of our lodge’s first flap. At the 2011 SectionNE-4B Conclave at CampPotomac, the (S-43) was issued. It is the same design except the boarder is orange and it says “Conclave 2011” in red below the lodge name. (250 or 300 were produced and sold out quickly to the 50 member contingent) The August Lodge Weekend saw an issuing of was will be listed as the (S-44). It has the same 90th Ann. Design and a Red Boarder. A Special flap was also issued at the event, a Light Blue Brd. Flap (S-45). The rumor is that only lodge members who helped with the 90th Anniversary Committee were issued one. 20-25 are said to exist and one was put into the lodge auction at the weekend and was sold for $125. Bidding from the youth stalled at $65 but an adult purchased it after it jumped over $100. The real question regarding this flap is if it was ever actually approved by the lodge chief or the executive committee.
This question is in reference to what people would consider a “General Issue Collection” from the lodge. Clearly some collections want everything, but because of prototypes and special runs or limited productions, some people only collect the general issue or approved patches from a lodge. A key example of this is the 2006 Wagion Lodge “Fish Fry” round. Not officially approved by the lodge executive committee and issued by the trading post advisor, this round patch has never been officially associated with the lodge collection. As in 2008, a flap was made for the 2008 Conclave Wagion Hosted featuring the Monopoly Man on it wearing a head dress. Only one or two are known to exist but it was never approved by the national standard for patch making and thus caused the lodge to produce (S-34) instead. Both, the “Fish Fry Round” and Monopoly Man” patch could catch high prices at auction to collectors looking for everything, but in my personal opinion, they are not part of the “General Issue” collection, or a complete set of Wagion Patches, every lodge member could have had a chance at, depending on honor.
I have a strong feeling this flap will be added to the Blue Book, the official collection guide for OA Patches, as a general issue piece but I think a better question is, who approved the patch, and if it was done through the proper channels, then it should be added to the collection. Another interesting patch that was issued in Aug. was a 3” Black “90th Ann. Weekend Service Crew” Round. The patch has a Black Boarder and a Black Background. The T-Bird is in front of a Sun or a “Firework”. The rumor is 40 or 50 were produced and only sold to the youth who came up to the lodge weekend early to help. I have heard from at least one lodge member that Elangomats were unable to purchase any because they were working at the time of the sale or had little knowledge of it.
The 90th Anniversary August Weekend also saw another auction to benefit the youth going to NOAC supported by the collection donated by Matt Oris. Mr. Oris was a long time lodge member, keeping his Vigil as a youth in the 1950’s, serving as the youngest Camp Director in Conestoga History and staying active up until his death in 2010. His collection has helped raise more than $5000 for the NOAC committee and the pieces that were sold at the Aug. Weekend were still very nice for every collection. Many early Area 3-F patches sold for under $30 to many youth in the crowds. A number of early Jamboree pieces from 1950 were sold and filled some holes in collections. There were also 25-30 flaps and CSP that all fetched good prices for the youth at the event. It was capped with one of the 90th Ann. Blue Flaps fetching $125. The estimated amount made was around $1200, and it all goes to support the youth going to NOAC.
Well that’s the 90th Ann. In a nut shell. Rumor is another flap will be issued in October but no solid conformation of that yet. A NOAC around was supposed to be at the weekend as well but never arrived in time. Between the fireworks, patches, friends and food, the weekend was one of the best in years. If you missed it, you missed out on some good deals and great times. I hope you enjoyed this and I will see you down the trail.
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Thomas P. Price
2006 Wagion Lodge Chief
(Above: 90th Anniversary “trader” flap)
Collector’s Corner
1/7/12
The History of Wagion Conclave Patches: Part 1 (1946-2008)
This edition of Collector’s Corner is going to focus on the history of Wagion Lodge #6 Patches issued for conclaves and area meets. Since the beginning of Area Meets and Conclaves, Wagion has been an active participant in both activity and leadership. Eric Bush, the 2012 Northeast Region Chief, marks the 12th Area or Section Chief from Wagion. He also became the second Northeast Region Chief, the other being Ken Hager in 2007. I am sure we will take a look at Eric and Ken’s Patches later this year but for now let us look at the history of patches associated with conclaves.
Wagion hosted its first and only Area F Meet at Camp Wesco in 1946. No known issues exist from this event. Camp Conestoga hosted its first Area 3-f Meet in 1954 after it had previously accepted and then renounced the 1952 Area Meet. In 1954, a 3” round patch was issued to every participant and included in the traditional gift bags was a handmade Conestoga Wagon Neckerchief Slide. Each was white in color and produced by Dwayne Silvis of Latrobe. Between 300-400 were made and passed out.
Wagion hosted Area 3-F Meets again in 1960 and 1966 at Camp Conestoga with very little issued in the way of patches. 1960 saw a yellow-bordered shield issued and at the 1966 Area 3-F Meet, a round was issued with the image of a sun coming up over the mountains. The 1972 Area 3-F Meet saw a blue-bordered triangle issued. In 1973, Wagion Lodge 6 was then placed in section NE-5C which was basically the same group of lodges as Area 3-F.
Camp Conestoga hosted its first NE-5C Conclave in 1976 and issued a four inch rectangle with the image of a Native American. Again in 1984 Wagion hosted at Camp Conestoga and a three inch square was issued. After the 1987 Conclave, Section NE-5C became Section NE-5. 1992 saw the iconic patch featuring a ghost Indian Chief rising from a campfire. This was also the first time the lodge issued a conclave patch with a participation award. The award was a sash pin that went across the chest of the Ghost Chief. Most will recognize this image from the large painted patch featured inside the mess hall at Camp Conestoga. In 1997, Section NE-5 became Section NE-4B.
Camp Conestoga became the central meeting place during this era in the Order of the Arrow for the Section NE-4B. 2001 saw the issuing of a “Thunderbird” shaped patch with a mountain scene and a participation pin of a small Native American, atop the mountain. In 2008, the small three inch round patch was issued featuring a black top hat in the center. This top hat was also the participation award. To this point in our conversation, we have only talked about what the section has issued at events hosted by the lodge. That is because prior to 2005, no patches were issued at conclaves for the lodge delegation.
The only pieces issued to lodge members before 2005 were a few a glasses that were etched with conclave logo. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, generic or black and white flaps became popular. Wagion is known to have sold two different varieties in the trading post, purchased, either through national supply, or a secondary company. These were not lodge issues but were very popular and many lodge collectors included them in displays.
The first official Conclave patch issues approved by the lodge for the 2005 Conclave. Tom Price was the chairman and Rich Hager was the advisor. Along with Rich Ashford as the lodge advisor, a purposed fundraiser was thought up. The committee would sell 2 flaps, a yellow-bordered flap (S-20) and a red bordered flap (S-21). Two Hundred of Each were produced and sold at the April OA Weekend. A third flap, a pink-bordered flap (S-22) was given out to each participant at the conclave. Almost 100 lodge members were in attendance and because only 100 were produced, they were very scares at the event. Sets began selling for $75 or $100 a piece by Saturday Night at Conclave for all 3 Flaps.
In 2006, a Green bordered flap (S-29), the same design as the standard 85th Anniversary Flap (S-27). This time, 200 were produced for the 100+ Member contingent but quickly sold out Friday at the lodge’s campsite. 50 Additional Flaps were ordered and sold at the August Weekend. These extra flaps were exactly like the first order and were reissued to allow for an even purchase rate by those who attended the event.
No patch was issued for the 2007 Conclave at Seph Mack. But 2008, Camp Conestoga hosted the Section NE-4B Conclave. A round (R-15) was issued and featured the phrase “It’s Coming”. Nearing the end of prep season another round, (R-17) was issued with the phase “It’s Here”. Two Hundred and One Hundred were issued respectively. For those who registered with the lodge as a staff member, a committee member flap (S-37) was issued one to each member. At the conclave, a trader flap was issued to the staff, (S-34) and featured dice in the background. Also at the Conclave, pre-orders were taken for the Wagion Lodge Vigil Chenille(C-10). 67 were eventually ordered and 4 Sets of 2 Prototypes (VC-2 & VC-3) were issued. Right before conclave began though, a prep team round (R-18) was issued for every 8 hours of service performed to aid in the conclave set up. 200 of these rounds were produced.
Beginning with the 2009 Conclave, a NE-4B was formed with 5 Lodges and Wagion issued the most pieces at any one event, 2 Flaps, 2 Neckerchiefs and an X Issue but that is for Part Two. I hope you enjoyed this article and please any comments or interest in future topics, just leave a post.
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Tom Price
2006 Wagion Lodge Chief