Scout Patch Collectors

Friday Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter September 23, 2016

The sort of generic thing I hear Boy Scout collectors say about our sisters on the other side of the aisle is that it’s a smaller hobby and things don’t sell for as much. All of that is true but maybe for some specific reasons. The GSofA doesn’t have an honor society (shout out to you WWW) with lodges that print out highly collectible sets several times a year. They also haven’t held a jamboree style event in more than 50 years so you don’t all the memorabilia that comes with that. Simply put GS collectors tend to be broad focused because there isn’t as much out there to collect whereas BS collectors have to narrowly niche down or else you’d run out of money in a skinny minute.

I expect to see Randy Holden (who is flying in from NJ) and I believe he is focused on camp patches. I know a lady at the show has an entire well full of dolls. My focus is proficiency badges (ie Merit Badges). The problem here is the one from the teens were literally brought over the pond by Juliette Gordon Low herself so the first ones are impossible. Even among GS collectors going back into the teens to get stuff for your collection is a steep challenge. But after that my collection tends to look pretty good and I hope to fill lots of holes this weekend.

A few of you might be wondering where is my daughter in all this. Well she is going to the show with me on Saturday. So far the collecting bug doesn’t appear to be in her DNA (I swear she’s mine!). I’ve rented two tables and so at the least she will help me man the tables because even if she isn’t obsessed with patches she does like money.

This week I shot my first unboxing video in the “patch cave”. I may even try shooting some video this weekend if I can find some willing people to put on camera. The last time I was there a lady named Susan put on a great seminar on the history of the patches and I recorded it and posted it to YouTube.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 ISSUE OF THE SCOUTING HOT FINDS NEWSLETTER