Scout Patch Collectors

Sunday Morning Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter September 21, 2014

ESTATE SALE MYSTERY

One of the interesting things that went into this newsletter was a question regarding an estate sale that had taken place recently near the Illinois/Indiana border. I got a call from a friend in the hobby who was disappointed that he had missed out on the auction. Since I was clueless that there was a big estate sale auction in the Midwest I was curious to hear his story. He described a blanket that was sold which had multiple first flaps including some pieces local to him in Ohio that he was interested in. The problem was at this point he couldn’t figure out who had picked up the blanket and wanted to find out if I could help. So I sent out a few feelers and included a picture of the blanket in the September 21, 2014 issue of the Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter. Within a few days of my first sending out feelers I had gotten back several hits. The collector from Ohio could only tell me the auctioneer stated someone from either North or South Carolina and someone from Alabama were the primary bidders. That wasn’t a lot to go on.

THE NEWS STARTS TO BREAK

Well via email I soon learned two of my oldest friends in the hobby from South Carolina had indeed drove all the way up there to take part in the auction. One of those guys then related to me who the winner (from Alabama I believe) was that won the blanket. Over the weekend I heard from a well known collector in PA that said that there were more bidders at that auction from as far away as Louisiana. Man what an auction! However, he was under the impression that the winning bidder of the blanket paid more for it than the individual pieces would sell for if they were mint off the blanket. Ouch! So the sum is greater than the equal of the parts? That doesn’t usually work out in collectibles when you are talking about sewn patches. However, I don’t underestimate the buyer. Apparently there were two Caldwell OA pins in the collection which were probably the best pieces. My friend from Ohio never mentioned these in the original phone call so I guess you just had to be there to appreciate what was available. If you want to see the picture of the blanket click inside the September 21, 2014 issue of the Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter and you can see the blanket that is reported to have sold for $9,000 at auction.