From Kurt Hansen out of Wisconsin. Tony was one of the mainstays of Wisconsin collectors. He was a regular at the US Grant Pilgrimages and Calumet TOR as well as Milwaukee and Tichora TORs. He will be missed.

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that I write to let you know that our friend Tony
Lazewski has passed away. Tony was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and
underwent treatment. Unfortunately, it recurred this summer. He died
peacefully at Hospice with his family at his bedside.

Tony’s contribution to Scouting (despite having two daughters) was great. He
worked with a local troop for many years. He served as the Lodge Advisor for
Tichora Lodge for 8 years and was a key advisor when Chemokomen and Tichora
Lodges merged to form Takoda. He was, of course, a Silver Beaver recipient.

Tony was born in Antigo, Wisconsin, and grew up in Samoset Council and Tom
Kita Chara Lodge. He was an Eagle Scout and camp staffer at Camp Tesomas in
his youth. He attended 48 consecutive Fall Conferences for Tom Kita Chara
Lodge only missing his first one this year when he was too ill to travel. He
also loved the OA Section conclaves and attended enumerable of those
conferences.

Tony was an avid Scout historian and patch collector. He started collecting
patches in 1960. His knowledge of Scouting and Scout camps in Wisconsin was
unsurpassed. He was always willing to share his knowledge and was the OA
editor for the Scouting Collectors Quarterly. He researched and co-authored
“The First 90 Years”, the history of Four Lakes Council with myself and
others.

Although we all remember Tony as a Scouter and patch collector, his family
always came first. He was a terrific husband, father, and son. He leaves
behind his wife Barbara, daughters Lisa and Laura, and father Barnie.

His daughter sent out the information below about his funeral. If you can’t
attend I know that his family would enjoy hearing from you, and I have
included their address as well. I find myself in Europe at this sad time and
do not anticipate making it back in time for the funeral. Tony and I spent
countless hours together talking patches during the past decade and
especially during the last year. The personal loss that I feel is more than
I can express here. He was a close friend and I already miss him.

Kurt

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A seldom seen pair of patches, the first jacket patches from Chicksa Lodge 202, changed hands at the pre-NOAC TOR. As Bruce and Dave discussed in their recent ISCA article, a lot of the high-end patches are privately placed thus most in the hobby do not see them offered or know if they sold. The asking price on the pair was $10,250. They sold for a little less than this before the TOR was over.

Here’s the 202 J2 – the harder of the two. As the original owner said, “Locally these are referred to as the Prince Watkins issues.” He believes there are only six (6) of the J2’s. They are Asian embroidered and came out in the early 1970s (approximately 1972 for the J2).

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I don’t know what the record is for the number of lodge items issued for a NOAC but we could shatter it. I polled many senior collectors and the consensus number is 1,500 new items or about 5 per lodge (this is counting 2-piece sets as two). Even folks who thought their lodge was not a patch whore started counting the number of pieces and came up with 5 or 7 items. The typical mass-producers were at 10 or more items. Take that against approximately 300 lodges, with some lodges not being represented, and 1,500 seems to be the target.

We’ve taken over the management and publication of the OA Blue Book so we’re heading home from pre-NOAC to see that the system can handle all of these new additions. What an undertaking.

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Late Update 8/5/09: The OA Committee confirmed at the end of NOAC that the next NOAC is 2012 at MSU. MSU could provide up to 17,000 dorm rooms. The Committee is looking for an attendance of around 9,000 for this NOAC. MSU is also a candidate for the 2015 100th anniverasary NOAC where attendance could be 15,000.

Looks like Michigan State (MSU) is the likely site for the next National Order of the Arrow Conference. The original plans had been to go back to Iowa State but ISU is re-doing a number of dorms, including demolition of existing dorms, such that they could only host 4,200 participants. Clearly not enough.

In re-opening the site selection we heard that Penn State also has a proposal in for consideration. Some of the problems though with PSU is getting there is not easy. It would be a different venue which can be interesting but, having been on the staff side of these events, ease of logistics trumps a LOT of other considerations.

MSU appears to be getting quite aggressive in their bidding. They have a team visiting this conference. They toured the pre-NOAC TOR. The TOR was such a success that they are looking at central facilities on campus. The original thought had been a field house that was two miles away from the main residential halls but now they are trying to find alternatives, and have some, that are right in the heart of where we would have the NOAC.

It appears that MSU, which were ambivalent hosts for the 2006 NOAC, got a strong message from the local community of how great it was to have the Scouts in town. Also, there is new leadership at the university that has gotten more entreprenurial and inviting. Basically they are bending over backwards from what I hear to try and get the conference.

Some might wonder why these mid-west universities. Its because of their size. These campuses typically have 35,000 – 45,000 students and were built on wide open spaces. While I am located near the University of MIchigan it just does not have the extra dorm space nor the required facilities close in to the dorms to make it an easy site.

Unfortunately we’ll be back to a 3 year gap in conferences so as to not land on a jamboree year. There’s talk of another National Indian Seminar to be held in Asheville, NC for one of the intervening years.

The decision on MSU is not final. It probably won’t be made until the December planning conference given that there’s still plenty of lead time. We shall see.

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Spoke with Dave Richey today of Otetiana Council Rochestor, NY that the merger with Finger Lakes Council (Geneva, NY) is now complete. As Dave reported, the Finger Lake’s Exec was promoted which led their Board to consider whether consolidation might make sense. Rochestor has one county. Finger Lakes had three but with smaller population. It seems to be a smooth merger. Now the lodge 95 guys are looking for 417 items and vice versa. At some point there will be consolidation of the lodges I expect.

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My sharing of some rememberances, and patches, from Cahokia Mound Council and Cahokia Lodge 126 got Illinois collector and Blue Book Regional Editor Dave Pede in an e-mail discussion concerning the varieties and issues from this lodge.

Dave said:

I believe these images are adding some fuel to my fire about the existence of a distinct variety within the Gear shaped twill flaps.   I am attaching an image that you can post of 4 of my yellow twill 126 flaps.   Study them for a minute as one is unique (other than shades of yellow). That one being the same flap as Jim’s first flap. From discussions I have had I believe that Gear had two looms one smaller, possibly older or their first, and a second larger loom. The flaps made off of these two machines are identifiable different, even though they were probably run from the same punch patterns.  The differences are that the overall flap length is shorter by several millimeters and the border itself is narrower by a millimeter on the earlier flap.  My guess is that Gear started off with a particular loom and later upgraded to a newer better model. It does not necessarily mean that they did not use both machines together.  This is strictly my opinion but I believe that this helps my identify the smaller version flaps to be the earlier editions.   I have this same anomaly with the 115 Cascasquia flap as well.

I’ll have Destry chime in on this as well.  He’s from southern Illinois and came across a lot of Gear Mfg. patches. Gear was headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Actually we were just talking about this the other day as I was cataloging some of the consignment from the Morley-Topkis collection. There clearly are two length, actually may well be three, differences to Gear Mfg. flaps: 123mm, 126mm and 120mm.

I’ll see what Destry has to say. It may well be that one loom produced one size and another loom produced a different size – AT THE SAME time! If this is the case, there really is no basis for calling one before the other with respect to issuance.

I just got this note in from Jim:

…to my knowledge only a white, round OA patch was available in the beginning. I am not sure when the beginning was but as I remember .. I was tapped out in summer of 1955 .. because I was on the camp staff in 1956 and there on .. and I know whether it be 1955 or 1956 .. and I do not think 1956 because I believe I had the white patch for at least 1 year or more .. and received the white patch and then we got the flap patches just in time for Bloomington .. I still remember my mom fussing at me saying “Mom I have to get those patches switched before going to Bloomington. We all are going to wear the new patches.” Well it may not be an exact quote .. but pretty close.

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Earlier we blogged about the surfacing of some fake felt OA patches on eBay, specifically including the Illinois lodge 227 Wetassa. Their first issue patch, an R1, is one of the classic, toughest issues from Illinois. We know the buyers of the two that came up within two weeks of each other. The first buyer knew it was a fake but he had a real one and wanted the fake for his collection. He’s gotten it in and told us, besides being crude, that it is MUCH larger than the original. Cute. That will make telling the real and fake apart. For the second one, the buyer was not aware that it was a fake. We don’t know if he’s going through with the purchase or not.

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We’ve been helping a Scouter re-create his original merit badge sash. He recently shared some information about his Scouting history including a wonderful camp staff photo from Camp Sunnen of Cahokia Mound Council headquartered in Madison County, IL. Camp staff photos are fun but what really caught my eye was all of the staff being OA members. I’ve had numerous conversations with Paul Myers, Terry Grove and others that finding early, particularly non-NOAC/conclave, photos of OA members is not easy. Now, 1957 is not ‘early’ but its now 52 years ago as well.Here’s what Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor member James Turner Harris provided to us (click on the picture for a larger image):

Boy Scouts of America, Cahokia Mound Council, Madison Co., Ill. – Camp Sunnen, Shirley, Mo. (on Mo. Rte. # 8) between Postosi, Mo. and Steeleville, Mo. located on Sunnen Lake owned by Sunnen Products, St. Louis, Mo.Post By: Larry Ryan 1957 Staff Photo Back To TopIn the picture: Clay Breihan   Ed Rickert   Jim Vierling   Walt Schramm   Ony Pashea   Tim Bennett   Larry Ryan   Les Bickel   Bill Savage   Jim Harris   Frank Long   Dick Cassens   Webb Lewis   Lowell Schaefer   Tom Renz   Rich ColemanTop Row, left to right:Clay Breihan, Ed Rickert, Jim Vierling, Walt Schramm, Ony Pashea, Tom “Frenchie” Dubocheau, Don Davidson, Tim Bennett, Larry Ryan, Les Bickel Front Row, left to right: Bill Savage, Jim Harris, Frank Long, Dick Cassens, Webb Lewis, Lowell Schaefer, Tom Renz, Rich Coleman

Jim, a delegate to the 1956 National Order of the Arrow Conference, shared some pictures on the Cahokia 126 lodge delegation:

This is a photo of the group from the Cahokia Mound Council #126 that went to Bloomington, Ind. in 1956.

Left to right:

Jim Chism – Granite City, Ill.

Jim Harris – Granite City, Ill.

Mickey Strange – Madison, Ill.

Carl Temple – Granite City, Ill.

Ed Rickert – Granite City, Ill.

Dick Dawkins – Collinsville, Ill.

Rollin Henn – Granite City, Ill. (to my knowledge 1st Vigil in our conf.)

Tom Temple – Granite City, Ill.

Missing:

Ronney Loos – Marine, Ill.

Walt Schramm – Edwardsville, Ill. (OA Lodge Chief)

Notice that we are all wearing the flap OA patches. As I remember, we got them not too long before we went to Bloomington. We were probably the first scouts in #126 to wear the flap patches. Also notice, that on my uniform you see the Camp Sunnen patch. The scan of my OA flap patch is the same uniform as in this photo and still has the original flap patch and also the Camp Sunnen patch on it but with a few more years added to the count.

I did not notice originally when I sent the photo but the neckerchief I am wearing .. white .. is the one that I had E. Urner Goodman sign with an ink pen while I was at the conclave. On that neckerchief was my original Cahokia #126 round, white OA patch with the chief head on it. I wish I had the neckerchief of course but I wish I had at least a photo of it. Anyway it sort of dates the switch over from the round to the flap .. circa just before the 41st OA conclave as I remember.

I remember that Dr. E. Urner Goodman was there and I was lucky enough to see him. I remember that I had a white neckerchief with the “old” round, white Cahokia OA patch on it and I got him to sign it in ink .. no sharpies (lol) back in 1956. It ran a bit and I put it away for safe keeping but it must have disappeared when I was still living at home back in the early 60s. I just remember that he seemed old and was sort of small and thin .. I think.

I know we stayed on campus at Ind. U. The only other thing that I can remember is walking to the “downtown area” by the campus and of course we had out uniforms on .. and some locals wanted to start a fight until they realized they were vastly outnumbered. I was sort of in the background and after that I headed back to the campus area .. .Ha Ha. Not a great warrior.

Unfortunately that is about it. I do have a plastic note book or pad or some thing from there that I kept and a patch and maybe some thing else but I would have to look.

I have told Roger Schestereit, Floyd Jordan in Granite City .. that we were give 5 of the “flap patches” to trade at Bloomington. I know that the flap patch that I have is from Bloomington and 1956 because I made sure my mother sewed on “the new flap patch” and took off the “old round white patch.” I wanted to be “cool and hip” I guess.

The reason I bring that up is that I have never seen the “golden” flap patch that is supposed to be the first and so rare. I do not ever remember seeing anything but the “yellow” one that I have and seemed to be the more common one. I do know that I got flap patches as soon as they were available so I am not sure how or when or why the golden one came into being.

Addendum:

James sent us pictures of the flaps he received just prior to the the NOAC in 1956. Here are the images and his comments. Click on the images to get a larger size.

Roy,

This is the very first Cahokia #126 OA flap patch that I ever got. I wore this to the 41st Natl. OA Conclave in Bloomington, Ind. some time after 8/27/1956.

That date is the date of the photo showing me wearing the patch. At the time of the photo, I had attended Camp Sunnen as a camper in 1955 and I had just finished my first year as Asst. Sports Director for the camp in summer 1956.

jim

Roy,

I got this patch at the same time as the one that was in the photo that I just sent you on my summer uniform. With the summer uniform, it went to camp with me in 1957, 1958 and 1959 after that photo was taken and it got WASHED and not dry cleaned. I have no idea if mom ever dry cleaned this winter uniform but if she did clean it .. it would have been DRY CLEANED and not washed. I think you can tell by the condition of the patch. It is mint except it was sewed on to the uniform.

Like I said before, I was issued these two plus 5 to trade at Bloomington (after 8/27/1956) so I still have my TWO ORIGINAL FLAP PATCHES. I also have the original round white one but it is in my collection.

I hope I have helped out a bit in dating the patches. All I can say is that I know that the ones that I have sent in the photos were issued after summer camp in 1956 and before we went to the OA conclave and as I remember they are the original color patches and all of us who went to Bloomington got them and we should have been the first to receive them.

Hard to remember back 53 years ago though.

jim

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This is an interesting piece that just surfaced through eBay – THE venue for fakes and mis-represented items. (I don’t see that in their marketing material but there is an increasing recognition that eBay is also THE fencing venue for stolen property but that’s another story).

Back to the item – We were asked by several collectors this past week regarding what was listed as a vintage 227 Wetassa patch. Specifically it was represented as an R1. We have handled two of these, out of a known population of about 6, plus have seen the R0.5 – same design but on very dark blue felt.

What had us looking was this was close but just didn’t seem right. The original design is crude but not this crude. Destry, who’s from Illinois, got to checking what else this person was selling and there were other felt patches but in the militaria area. Our conclusion is that these were/are hand-painted reproductions. Which makes it interesting but not the real deal (and it sold for $160 +/-, not the $10,000 that the real one brings.)

Below is the picture of the patch that was just sold:

This is the image of the real piece, from John Pannell’s OAimages.com site, of the patch in Dave Pede’s collection.

Addition: 3/31/09:

Over the past couple of weeks another one of these surfaced, also coming from Yorkshire, England but under another seller id:

This one is much closer but still wrong. Note the problems with the ‘A’s in Wetassa compared to the original. Also, the fakers are having problems with the red ‘WWW’ and the fuzziness of the raccoon within the arrowhead.

What has just popped up is a Lone Wolf A out of Oslo, Norway:

Paul Myers, an expert on Indiana OA amongst many other things, brought this to our attention. As Destry mentioned:

the guy is getting good. Another fake high end OA felt from overseas. Check his other stuff, there are fakes military bullions and even another hand painted leather sqaudron patch. This is the same guy that sold the 227 felts, just operating under another name. I did another Patch-L posting about it, just letting the boys know.

Here’s a picture of an original:

Actually, I’m thinking they are making their fake based upon our picture because of the distortion they have in their attempt to reproduce the number. We have had this up for sale at set price and they could have seen the high value thus making it a target. What they are missing is that this was done on composition material, not felt.

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