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What with the volume of patches we handle, over 30,000 pieces last year alone, we sometimes refer to ourselves as “Patches-R-Us”. We may have to change that to “Hoards-R-Us.” I guess we’re now measuring collections by pallet loads. We just took in a 3-pallet collection. See the pictures below (and yes, the shelves in the background are full of Scouting memorabilia as well.)
From Mike McAdams:
CAL HOLDEN (83)
If you could hear taps playing Wednesday, it was for Cal Holden, who passed on to be with the Lord (Dec. 14th) after an extended battle with cancer. He was 13 days shy of his 84th birthday.
A passionate scouter for most of his life, Cal was one of the foremost collectors of boy and girl scouting memorabilia in the world. He was so well known in the business, that the US Postal Service asked him to help with the design of a stamp honoring the birth of scouting for its 1910s decade project, while Hollywood studios would ask for his help in finding period scout uniforms for movies.
There was a reason he dedicated his life to scouting, and that was because a scout helped save his life after a skiing accident in 1945. He called it a miracle, and made it his life mission to spread the virtues of scouting. Cal grew up in Holden, Mass., graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1943, moved to Ohio and worked for PPG in Barberton as a chemical engineer for 40 years. He retired in 1983, and spent the years since putting together his scouting collection. He was in the process of writing a book on Girl Scout collectibles when he passed away.
Cal was also known as the resident Doylestown historian, heading up the writing and printing of two books on the history of Doylestown, most notably the 284-page, 175th anniversary edition in 2002. He was also instrumental in starting the Rogues’ Hollow Historical Society.
Cal was a 57-year member of the Doylestown United Methodist Church, holding several positions, including adult Sunday School leader for many years. He married Frances Britton in 1945, and they raised four children at their home in Doylestown. Surviving are sons Don of Gurnee, Ill., Dick (wife Cindy) and Ed (Sally) both of Holden, Mass., and Art (Jean) of Doylestown; eight grand children and two great grand children.
In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to make a memorial contribution to The Boys Scouts of America, Great Trails Council, or the charity of their choice.
I’m not sure but the Tall Pine Council/lodge 218 patch issued for this jamboree may just be the largest Scout patch.
The 354 Mayi jacket patches were always considered huge and the felt Minsi lodge 5 jacket patches are pretty good size but I think this one takes the cake.
I don’t know how one collects/stores a patch this size. I hope they do not catch on. The only one really profiting from these are the patch manufacturers that sell by the inch or thread count.
Over the weekend we had our eBay account taken over by some scammers out of Italy (supposedly, probably not even from there.) They started sending out offers to sell iPods and motorcycles. Fortunately eBay caught on and changed our password (which was also a pain but not as bad as having scams get out there.) Not sure how this happens though. They tried to change our e-mail address but that was stopped.
I heard from Jef Heckinger the other day that several people are e-mail flaming over the ISCA booth at the Jamboree. What’s unfortunate is that most if not all of these folks were not there nor provided support of the booth nor the year’s worth of contacts and expense to make this happen. What Jef DID do was:
Created one of the most popular exhibits/booths at the Jamboree that had 10,000s of thousands of visitors;
Signed up over 1,500 new e-mail members;
Signed up over 200 full members (i.e. paid members);
Was the envy of BSA professionals out of the National Office because of the traffic. And;
Showed off the hobby well.
This would not have happened if it weren’t for Jef. As it was, he worked more time at the booth than was expected because he gave up staff he arranged for the exhibit booth to the Collections merit badge (another ISCA supported effort) because they were under-staffed.
Why is it so easy for some folks to tear down others rather than build-up themselves?
Roger Schustereit of Texas forwarded on an interesting Scouting history web site:
Roger tells us that David Scott of Dallas wrote the Seton section. Roger placed some very rare and early Scouting paper items including Seton’s resignation from the BSA and a letter from Baden-Powell to James West in 1912 when BP was touring the US promoting the Scouting movement.
It might not strike you how these two topics are related but they are. The national gallery has as special display that started July 4 for artist Winslow Homer. Wonderful art that is easy to connect with and stands the test of time.
In the museum store they had lots of printed items relating to this special exhibit. Books, calendars, note pads. You name it. Although these were all high quality printing, especially the books, the color replication wasn’t the same as the real thing. Close but still different. One would not know this without having experienced the real painting but the differences were real.
Now, how is this related to patches? Well, people are collecting digital images of patches. For example, see oaimages.com The pictures and color quality of these patches are good but its not the same as seeing and having the real things. I recently broke up my Wab issue collection and although I have color copies, seeing the Winslow Homer exhibit reminded me it will not be the same as the real item.
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