As time marches on, we sometimes lose our history. Fortunately, an author came forward last year to remind us with a new update. Joe Taylor did this with his writing and publishing The Complete Guide to Collecting Wabaningo Emblems.

I have written for the International Scout Traders Association (ISCA) several Hobby Trend articles that have discussed collecting the Wab issues. I credit such a collection as an “Everest”, a climb up the tallest of mountains in our hobby. In last December’s issue in my article on “OA Trends” I noted how:

“This area overlaps with several of the previously mentioned themes including First Flaps, First Issues, and First Solid Flaps. Getting the particularly correct variety can be very challenging. Trend: Hot and Heating up” … ISCA Journal December, 2023.

Some History

In 1952 Scouter Dwight Bischel wrote and published the Wabaningo Lodge Emblem Handbook. It was the first “catalog” of Order of the Arrow issues ever done. Wabaningo (248) was his home lodge at the time of his writing although his Scouting youth was in Bay City, Michigan and Gimogash (214) lodge. The hobby has often shortened this title to “the Wab book”.

Joe’s new book includes some reprints of interviews down with Dwight over the years including senior collectors Jeff Morley and Bill Topkis and one by senior collector and ISCA OA Editor Bruce Shelley. Both are very informative and original source which is getting harder every day. Dwight has since passed away at age of 91 in 2020.

Dwight’s drive for creating the book was that when attending the 1950 National Jamboree he noticed that it was becoming a collecting theme yet there were not even published lists of the lodges let alone whether they had an “emblem”. Working with the OA National Secretary, the lead professional support person to the OA, he got a list of all lodges and their councils. He contacted the lodges and heard back from many of them. His book includes not just an example patch where he could but also lodge name, number, and history.

Prior to this the only picturing of lodge emblems was in the OA handbooks. But the handbooks were showing examples, some of which were not even OA patches, rather than a catalog.

The Joe Taylor edition

Besides going to full color and full size, Joe has done several things not thought of Dwight’s time:

The book includes:

Difficulty ratings

Valuation guide (which likely change over time but give a starting point)

Clarification about the variety specifics between the issue featured in the original Wab books and other issues from the lodge that might be similar but are not the “Wab issue”. Which in several cases the original Wab issue turns out to be an earlier and harder variety.

Additional historical information including the transcripts of the interviews previously mentioned.

Conclusion

The hobby has needed this book for some time for what was one of the first collecting areas in our Scout memorabilia hobby. It is a worthwhile library addition for those wanting to collect this area.

Post Script

The original Wab book is still coveted as it has historical information about the lodges and councils at the time. Only 2,000 were made so it is relatively scarce. There are though both copies (usually have a single color cover) and a reproduction printed likely in the 1960s that is similar but not an original.

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Collector Warren Kuhfeld shared this history on one of the FB patch collecting groups. I thought it both worth sharing and saving for posterity (i.e. FB is a river and things flow through it and disappear.)

From Warren:

Experienced collectors can identify the manufacturer of some flaps just by noting their shape. Obvious examples include Geer, Moritz, Lion Brothers, and Welsh Industries. There is another shape that you might find interesting, the Novak shape. JF Novak was a friend of my father’s. Mr. Novak operated a store in Cleveland, Ohio, established in 1932, selling police and Christian supplies in the front and manufacturing patches in the back. I believe his primary patch business was law enforcement patches, but he made some Scout patches and many other types of patches. In 1973, one of my father’s other friends, a fascinating man and eclectic collector, learned about my collecting interests and told me about Mr. Novak’s business. At that point, I was an 18-year-old new collector. He took me to visit Mr. Novak. During several visits, I bought overruns of 487F2s, 487X2s, 350A1s, and 75A1s (WAB). These were an incredible help in developing my new OA collection. I also picked up quite a few Camp Tepicon and Sauk Trails patches. The 487Fs, both F1 and F2, have a distinctive shape with straight sides. The highly coveted FF event flap from 189 has the same shape and style of embroidery. Lodge 189 is from Sauk Trails Council and Camp Tepicon. It seems certain that Mr. Novak not only made the 487F1 FF but he also made the 189 event flaps. I was not aware of the existence of the 189 flaps back in 1973, but I certainly knew to look for anything flap shaped. I never saw any other OA issues there. Over the years, the Fire Marshall would show up now and then and make him get rid of boxes and boxes of overruns. It is likely that some 189 event flaps ended up in a dump in Cleveland long before I ever visited. Surprisingly, I don’t think Mr. Novak made any patches for Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Lodge, although I have seen several council event patches that I believe are his.I picked up one other thing during my first visit, a couple reproductions of the 1957 jamboree backpatch. Mr. Novak said a Scouter had one that was damaged in a fire. He believed he would never be able to replace it, so he asked Mr. Novak to make him another one. We all know that 1957 backpatches are not difficult to find, but a Scouter in 1973 in the era before eBay and the internet might not have known that. I don’t know if that Scouter’s story is true or not, but I do know that Mr. Novak gave me a couple of the backpatches. I am beyond embarrassed to admit that I traded them without divulging the source, at that point in my life not fully grasping the immorality of that act. The patches can be distinguished by a bright pink face. I did not keep any, nor did I take pictures.

From Warren Kuhfeld 06/29/22

Here are some examples of patches attributed to this company.

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It’s Throwback Thursday. In going through my files, I came across my copy of the prices realized for the Don Dennison “Sale of Sales”, one of the earliest (maybe THE earliest) published prices realized for the sale of individual Scout memorabilia. Jack Keane published this on mimeograph (for Millennials this was an era before MS Word).

Some background on Don. He was the organizer and host for the Amaquonsippi Trail in southern Illinois. He was also a passionate patch collector of Scout patches: OA, jamboree, regions, and more.

Bruce Richardson has a great site referencing the collectibles associated with this trail. Check it out here.

Conducted in 1970, this was before there was any catalog of issues, this predated Arapaho I and II, so Don had to define the terms used in his sale listing.

So ultimately we do not know the specific issues as we define them these days but one can well infer what issue they were for many of the lodges and items as so few issues existed at this time. Remember, I do, that lodges often kept the same issue for several years! Rather than today’s practice to make a new issue every few months or faster.

Some quick observations:

• The high prices realized for OA issues included:
  • 8 R solid: $117.76
  • 13 R Wakag (sic) (what later was turned out to be a Dovidio fake): $45
  • 34 Ko-Nosh-I-Oni sold for more than 34 Gonlix
  • 47 R (Hanigus): $150
  • Still active lodges sold for more than many merged lodges:
    • 89 F (Kepayshowink, Mischigonong did not exist): $83.76
    • 96 S: $90
    • 526 F: $120
    • 555 S: $75 (at the time, restricted to National pros)
• Some of the other patches (there weren’t many offered)
  • Region 2 patch: $23.30
  • 1937 NJ patch: $75
  • 1953 NJ patch: $15

Here are the sales result pages. Note, this was an era where gas was $0.36 per gallon. New flaps cost a quarter.

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We recently acquired one of the multi-generational (i.e., father and son) collections from the Podewils estate. Bob and Bobby Podewils were members of the Traders organization in the 1960s and early 1970s out of Long Island, NY. The Traders was a predecessor to later collecting groups that eventually evolved to become ISCA – the International Scout Collectors Association. (See ScoutTrader.org ).

I was archive digging through my storage trying to find a picture I remember having of the Podewils with “Green Bar” Bill Hillcourt, Bernie Miller and Michael Feigenbaum. The Podewils estate have a couple but were severely faded.

Well, didn’t find (yet) the picture but did come across some fun archives from the 1945 Area U Conclave (pre-Area 12 and Western Section) in California. Held in Santa Barbara, CA hosted by Canalino lodge 90 from March 26-29.

For the conclave they made a VERY nice report. I don’t have an original but have a copy. I have scanned in a few pages to share with you including the cover, the Certificate of Attendance, the Table of Contents, and page 6 which makes reference to certain insignia for the Lodge Chiefs of the conclave. Wonderful history in my opinion.

These pages came from archives I have from the Pat Laird estate. I handled a portion of his collections. Here are a couple of pictures that were with these pages of some of the earliest OA issues from the California lodges. The patches are very rare and to see them all together even more exceptional in my opinion.

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From time to time, TSPA handles “named collections”. Actually, we have handled more of these than anyone else. These are collections of such significance that they carry a special place in the hobby based on the collector. Typically these named collections are lifetime or generational collections. That is, collections that span twenty-five years or more to build.

Bil Loeble in his patch room in front of some of the patch plaques from his years as Section Advisor.

We are handling one such collection right now, Bill Loeble’s lettered council strip collection. The patches will speak for themselves but let me share with you some of his background. For as significant as his collections are, what he has done for Scouting and our youth is more significant.

Bill joined Scouts in 1954 and became an Eagle Scout in 1956. He attended Philmont the following year. He served on Camp Shenandoah’s (VA) staff for several years starting in 1958. He was inducted into Shenandoah lodge in 1959.

While attending the 1960 National Jamboree in Colorado Springs, CO he got the collecting bug. His OA trading flap was the Shenandoah 258 F1 which was a one color flap. He mentioned it didn’t trade well when compared to Blue Heron or Catawba and he could only get a few as they were highly restricted. We laughed though that it would be nice to have some of those 258’s back.

He served on the staff of the 1964 National Jamboree. He started with OA patches but in ’72 when council shoulder patches started coming out he added those to his collecting interests. He collected shoulder insignia going forward (CSPs) and backwards (RWS) in time amassing the largest such collection in the country.

Picture of waterfront buddy tags for Bill and his son.

Bill served in multiple leadership roles in multiple councils including Central SC, Indian Waters, and Atlanta Area Councils. He also served in multiple leadership roles within the Order of the Arrow from Chapter Advisor to Southern Region Chairman and member of the National OA Committee. He was awarded his Vigil in Muscogee 221 in Indian Waters Council South Carolina.

Bill has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years but he does not dwell on them. Of note though, Bill is one of the few collectors to have been awarded the Silver Buffalo. The only others that come to mind are Dr. Hal Yocum and Tico Perez. Bill is now a 65 year veteran of Scouting.

And lest you think Bill’s no longer collecting, here’s his patch room today.

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My friend Roger Schustereit sent me a link to some eBay auctions. On the first screen, one caught my attention title “BOY SCOUT LONE SCOUT LSA FELT PATCH Cir:1922-1927”

It shows an early LSA felt on felt patch. But, looking at the thumbnail, it didn’t ‘feel’ right. Looking closer, it is stitched incorrectly for that patch and era.

Then, getting into the detail description, in lowercase, it notes that this is a reproduction. Basically, feels kind of mis-leading (although at least he did mention its a reproduction). Its a patch most folks would NOT know the difference from the original because it is so rare. What happens when this patch moves from eBay to a collection?

Going on with this seller’s listings he’s offering, according to the title, “Brand New Tonkawa A2 Felt Arrowhead patch – Super Rare”

Again the details note its a reproduction (a poor one at that) but… the title is bull-crud and hyped. Again, I view this as dangerous for the hobby. What if the buyer pairs up a print-out of the auction “title” page with this patch (but does not show the details from the description)?

Oh well, one more fake to ad to OABlueBook.com

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Senior collector Paul Myers of Goshen, IN was at the recent Calumet Council Memorial Day Trade-o-ree. Paul is a former editor of the Trader magazine in the 1960s. In the 1990s he wrote a regular column for ASTA, the America Scout Traders Association, which merged with NSCA to form ISCA the national group today. At the TOR Paul was handing out a compilation of the articles he wrote for ASTA. It is now contained in a PDF below. It covers over 75 topics of Scouting collectibles. Not in depth necessarily but my guess is that even veteran collectors will learn something knew from going through these pages.

The topics include:

• Amaquonsippi trail patches
• US Grant Pilgrimage patches
• Lincoln Pilgrimage patches
• Contest medals
• Henderson Award System
• Belt Stencils
• Colored Background Service Stars
• BSA Anniversary Week
• Ribbon Pin Bars
• 100% Duty
• Standard Church Troop Bars
• Original Twelve Regions
• OA Chapter Flaps
• Early Registration Cards
• Scout Emergency Units
• Recruiter Strips
• Scout Diaries
• Boy Rangers of America
• District Badges
• Region 7 Hoe Down
• Sweater, swim suit, hat and jacket badges
• Veteran Emblems
• Explorer Top Awards
• Presidents Awards & Quality Unit
• SeniorScout Titles
• Civic Service
• Overseas Travel Badges
• Service Library
• WW 1 War Service Medals
• National Service Camps
• Boy Scout Bands
• Tenure in Scout Camp
• Service Troops
• Jamboree Staff Positions
• Jamboree Participation Awards
• Jamboree Contingent items
• Jamboree Shoulder Identification
• 1950 Jamboree Prototypes
• Variations in Jamboree Patches and Neckerchiefs
• Jamboree Region Items
• Strengthen the Arm of Liberty Program
• Take Me Home Folders
• Scout Straight Knives
• Scoutmaster’s Key
• Cub Scouting
• First Class Hat Pins
• Patrol Identification
• Folding Pocket Knives
• OA Chapter Badges
• Scout Rings
• Pin Back Buttons
• State Strips
• Early Camp Honor Societies
• Philadelphia District Badges
• Region Standard Camp Badges
• Philmont Contingent Patches
• Merit Badges
• Boycraft Co. Booklets
• 10 Year Program Award
• Sea Scout Ships

Boy Scout Memorabilia Information

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From long time collector Ted Packer, also former Council President for Burlington County Council:

Southern New Jersey council has merged into Burlington County Council. The vote by both councils was on the 19th. It will be effective on 1/1/2013. We will be choosing a new name in the near future & the OA Lodges will be combining by the end of 2013.

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At first blush this shirt is not too eye catching. It contains a 316 Quekolis S1 first flap but the more valuable piece is the red and white strip on the left sleeve. What’s nice is the OA flap helps date when the RWS was used – circa late 1950s.

This is a “9” rated RWS putting it in the upper tier. There is a much more common version with ‘PENNA.’ on the second line. The shirt brought $1,477.52. The S1 mint would be worth around $300 so the rest of the value is in the strip. Nice. I’m sure seller was surprised.

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