Scout Patch Collectors

Sunday Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter November 15, 2015

The Girl Scout show was a lot of fun. The fellowship of collectors visiting with old friends seemed very familiar to that which you see at our shows. They even had a couple of seminars for young collectors – one of which I recorded and will be publishing this week on YouTube. Even though I was a newbie everyone was very friendly. I got many questions answered that I could not find on any website or in the guide.

It was not a big topic of discussion but I thought you might appreciate this one. When it comes to the “highest award” the GSA has bounced around over the years and one lady offered a very clear compliment for the Boy Scouts. The Eagle has always required 21 merit badges (her words not mine) while the GSA kept changing both the name and requirements for it’s highest award for high school age Scouts. Today it’s called the Gold Award but it has also been 1st Class among others.

The host of the show Becky Byrns had a wonderful uniform display at the front door unlike anything I’ve ever seen at a Boy Scout show. She had about twenty full uniforms on short manequins that represented all of the GSA uniforms from the teens through 2000. Each one had the hat, belt, sash, shirt and pants of that time period and was labeled. I snapped pictures of them all.

I just missed seeing some familiar faces at the show. John Pleasants and Chris Jensen were there on Friday but not Saturday when I arrived. There were collectors there from as far away as CA, CT, MI and PA. I got the impression that GSA collector shows are few and far between. I did not mention to anyone that just last weekend there were 4 Boy Scout shows running at different locations around the country.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE NOVEMBER 15, 2015 ISSUE OF THE SCOUTING HOT FINDS NEWSLETTER