Eriez 46 C1 – The rest of the story
I find it interesting, and often humorous, to hear the ‘back story’ on certain patches. A great patch recently surfaced on eBay – the first chenille from Eriez lodge 46 out of Erie, Pennsylvania.
First off, this is an incredibly rare patch. The C1 has an orange log. The C2 has a brown log. Up to this point, we have only ever had one C1 to broker. Major collections that we have handled like the Myers Collection, Leubitz Collection, Lee Collection, Basar Collection, etc.. did not have one. We have had a couple of C2s which is no slouch of a patch but the C1 is magnitudes harder. There are likely less than six of these that have survived. I don’t know if anyone knows how many were made but with chenilles you could order as few as one (1).
Well, on with the story. This patch surfaces on eBay on a uniform. See below:
The patch auctions off. Went for the low range of what we would value this item ($2,725). It is more likely, in our opinion, in the $5,000 and up range if properly marketed.
It is nice to see this patch with the dated camp patch that helps date when this was issued, circa 1943. 
We are losing this history and provenance so it is nice when we come across it.
Now, as Paul Harvey would say “the rest of the story.” From a conversation today with a friend of the person who won this patch, both good cutsomers of ours, we find out that the person selling this patch was a District Executive in this council and earned this patch. The interesting part is that this gentleman had offered it to members of current lodge 46 Langundowi for $500. And no one wanted it! They didn’t care about Eriez. They only cared about Langundowi. There is hardly anything from Langundowi worth $500 let alone the value of the early Eriez pieces. Even if they didn’t want to keep it, they could have bought it and made between $2,000 and $4,000 bringing it to a national collector. It is to laugh, if not cry, about the lack of knowledge of many local collectors. It also shows the lack of knowledge of the truly vintage OA items out there. It also shows that it is often not the best to sell back to a local collector as they don’t know the value those of us who serve the national collectorate. And thus, the rest of the story.
on May 14th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Ouch. I was a member of Langundowi in my teens and collect Eriez as well. Langundowi just isn’t a collector’s lodge. They’re still one of the only lodges in the US with a restricted flap (5 per year) and there’s maybe a handfull of people in Erie who would really know the value of that. Most of the people (like myself) who are Lodge 46 collectors now live outside of the Erie area (or moved for work reasons). Wish I had known about this before…
on August 15th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
He certainly didn’t offer it to me or I would have bought it instantly!
on August 13th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
As a former member of Langundowi Lodge who moved away 28+ years ago, I too collected Eriez/Langundowi. It’s all I still collect even after being an Adviser in a few other lodges. This patch is definitely on my patch “bucket list” and I to would have bought it instantly…darn!
on September 11th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
I’m a former Eriez and Langundowi member of the ceremonial team and would have snatched this up as well
on June 23rd, 2018 at 9:48 am
5 years later w/another post. I did run into a C1 a couple years ago; offered to me by a good friend. Was elated at the opportunity to own one. Wasn’t cheap, but I own one and it’s the highlight of my collection.
on December 30th, 2018 at 2:01 am
Hey Gregg or Dan do you have a camps maps of Eriez Lodge 46, Hoh-Squa-Sa-Gah-Da Lodge 251, and Skanondo Inyan Lodge 256. Also known the location of oa ceremony ground and have pictures of the oa ceremony grounds? I been trying to find old scout camps maps from Pennsylvania that have been closed down.
on July 7th, 2019 at 7:46 pm
Member of Eriez Lodge 46 I seem to recall flaps were restricted to 2 per life. I have an early chenille with some moth damage. Time to pass along my collection before my estate has to deal with items they are not familiar with at all. Any advice? We were at Camp Sequoah which has closed.
on November 23rd, 2019 at 1:31 pm
Matthew, email me at trogers17@gmail.com I’m the history adviser for Langundowi. Would like to see what you have from Eriez that we can buy from you to add to our historical collection.
on June 16th, 2023 at 10:36 pm
Do the Eriez 64 patches in general have value? I am looking for information, thanks!! (I can offer a photo)
on June 27th, 2023 at 2:22 pm
Some – they can range from little ($10 or so) to several thousands of dollars. Please post picture.