Scout Patch Collectors

Sunday Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter November 13, 2022

I saw evidence this weekend at a well-attended camporee that confirmed a theory that I’ve had for a long time. National events like NOAC and Jamboree put so much energy into our hobby. I don’t mean with a bunch of patch sets to list on eBay. This weekend I saw lots of younger kids (and some parents) really interested in patches and some of it was from them #1 coming home from a NOAC or #2 signing up for Jamboree.

It was funny that some of this energy also was from a single troop. The troop that my friend Nathan Kohler belonged to which he gave the bug to Quinn Blankenship who has now given it to some younger Scouts in that same troop! But how does the bug get passed down? I think from what I’ve gathered it’s #1 bringing your patches and showing them to others (like religiously) and #2 maybe a little of what I did this weekend which is giving kids unbelievably easy trades and sometimes just gifting them patches to get started.

I have 237 auctions live on eBay this weekend. There are a bunch of them ending tonight including old conclaves and lots of Jamboree stuff. This week in the warehouse I’m working a short week because on Wednesday my mom’s coming to town. She is going to ride shotgun with me for a trip at the end of next week to go pick up 3 collections. All three of these are coming from Pennsylvania so we are going to make a trip up the Interstate to go meet these families.