Scout Patch Collectors

Tuesday Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter February 16, 2016

I heard from a reader that he is going to be teaching a Scouting memorabilia class at an upcoming council event. I really think that with Scouts starting to sign up for the 2017 Jamboree this is the right time to be reaching out to the next generation of collectors. Yes they might only be interested in patches that have comic book characters but in some ways they are the future of the hobby.

A great example of this divide was a recent discussion on Patch-L that I found very interesting. It was wrapped around the question of what does it mean today to say you are a name/number OA collector. I followed the back and forth closely (thanks GB from the Big Apple). However, I just don’t know if anybody in the next generation of collectors is going to do it that way. All the youth I know lack a focus and are doing themed collections of stuff that “looks cool”. I guess were doomed! LOL

But if you think about it this kinda makes sense. Back in the day each lodge had just enough flaps that you could do a Bill Price book describing the differences with a few letters. The fact is that the Blue Book project eventually grew to be so gut busting big that they gave up trying to print the final edition in mass. It’s a bit like drinking water from a fire hose so the youth can’t collect it all and as a side point (whole other discussion) can’t afford to in today’s make patches for profit era.

So my take on this situation is that I still see a lot of interest in this hobby from youth and those of use with some grey hair. I just think that it looks different than what the reference books of the 1970s and 1980s existed in. So as I get time I’ll continue to do videos and podcasts and other projects to plug in to this new generation of collectors because they do matter.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE FEBRUARY 16, 2016 ISSUE OF THE SCOUTING HOT FINDS NEWSLETTER