The National Eagle Scout Association, NESA, came out with a new uniform square knot for lifetime members. I’ve heard from a collector that received one noting that it was oversized. He had gotten two in and sent one to Dennis Dowling’s museum in Raton, NM. Dennis put it on display. When a National Supply Division staff member came through this summer Dennis pointed out that the square knot was much larger than normal knots (this brings back recollections of the first Spurgeon Award knot). The Supply Division person said this shouldn’t be and had all of the knots recalled and issued to the correct size. We don’t know how many of the error ones got out.

See the picture below for the differences. At first I was thinking it was just extra cloth which is happening now with some of the knots due to poor quality control but no the first issue is much larger than the correct knot. Should be some collector item.

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Got this in from Roger Schustereit of Texas. I find it noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First camp patches prior to 1940 are MUCH scarcer than most folks realize. They are some of the first, if not THE first temporary patches Scouts issued. Second, identifying these early camp patches is a serious challenge. All this has is a “C” and a “B”. Fortunately the Museum holding this patch has some of the provenance that helps fill in the story.

Roger passed along this information:

 Bob Black sent me this pictire of the very rare Camp Billy Gibbons felt patch.  I was used in the early to mid
1930’s.  It is in the South Plains Council museum on the merit badge sash of the father of Lodge 150.  He was a Scout in Comanche Trail Council.

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Our first, we’re optimistic, grandchild Jackson Glen McNew was born June 7, 2008 (6/7/08 – nice date, easy to remember – good going Jackson).

I thought my son was growing fast but I had forgotten how quick they change at this age. Grandma and Grandpa are trying to bribe daughter and son-in-law into town as often as possible. Here’s a cheer to all you current grandparents and to you future club members. Its great.

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Out today is the new re-alignment of OA sections for the Western Region.

See the following PDF:

wregoa_08.pdf

There will be six (6) areas with a total of fourteen (14) sections. I’m not sure how many there are currently. This covers 23,748 OA members.

I know Central region has reconfigured its Areas and my guess is the other regions as well. This is probably in response to a re-org in Western Region. I’m sure there is some bouncing around for some lodges. Locally here, Toledo, Ohio (Erie Shores Council, Tindeuchen Lodge) was in our Area and Section, then out of our Area and Section and are now back in our Area but I don’t yet know about section. Always confusing. Hopefully it helps. I’m sure the OA will adapt.

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Man, this is becoming the fake report. Another day, another one to report and this one even more egregious.

eBay seller PITTKING describes this as:

oa 36 mitigwa RARE

this patch is the lodge before the neche lodge and is mint and very rare

The lodge has no known real issues. If it did, they certainly wouldn’t be from overseas embroidery as the lodge went out in 1950. This is a hoax. A misrepresentation. Its currently bid to $36. If this were what the seller purported it to be it would be 100 times that. The problem is, its not represented as a fake, and it probably cost $1 – $3 to make. At such a profit, these kinds of scams will keep going on. What does it do to the hobby when the buyer of such an item finds out later it is a fake? That won’t be good.

Actually one could argue this is a fake of a fake as it is a twill version of a solid fake shown on John’s oaimages.com site.

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A quick heads up – from a seller on eBay, out of Spain of all places, is offering up the following patch from old New York lodge 500 – Ona Yote Kaonaga (proper spacing for the lodge name):

Click on the image to get an expanded look. It is not the original, which can be seen on the OA Images site.

Notice that the original is on twill right rough (TRR) as well as swiss-style embroidery. The seller of the fake, pwaitor29, titles his listing:

O NA YOTE KA O NAGA LODGE 500 SCOUT PATCH

No where does he mention its a modern patch or a fake. Buyer beware. This is not good for the hobby.

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