Prices of 1935 NJ Shoulder Arcs

Posted on May 30th, 2007 in JSP, Hobby Trends, Jamborees by Roy

I just fielded an e-mail from a friend asking about the value/price of the shoulder arcs from the 1935 National Jamboree. These were the first “JSPs”, i.e., jamboree shoulder patches.

Boy Scout 1935 National Jamboree shoulder arc from Region 4Each troop had their own arc. The Roman numerals indicated the region. The capital letter indicated the sub-camp. The number indicated the troop. They are made of red felt with white printing. Quite often these can be found unused because the jamboree was canceled but also many have moth holes from their storage over the years. Each participant got two badges.

These used to be a consistent $125 in price. Then they went to $225. Now they seem to be consistently in the $280 - $380 range. They are truly scarce. It used to be that folks collected just one for their jamboree collection. Now there are several that are trying to put region sets together, i.e., one from each region. And, there are a few that are going gonzo trying to get one from every troop! It makes sense though as we collect JSPs from every council for most of the modern jamborees so why wouldn’t some collect the shoulder arcs the same way. If this trend continues, then these could well be underpriced. But also, this is for a very sophisticated and well heeled collector to go after these that completely.

Counting the Puerto Rico JSPs

Posted on August 11th, 2005 in JSP, Jamborees by dhoffard

Historically Puerto Rico Council’s JSPs have been one of the sought after JSPs at Jamborees. Limited supply and limited number of troops. I was sorting through some of the items I picked up and came across what I think is the 7th JSP from this council. They certainly traded these items as if it were times past when there were few patches but I’m thinking this time was different and that these patches were everywhere. It will be interesting to see the final tally for this council (at least interesting in that I’m not compulsive enough to try and get every issue.) It will certainly be a pain for those who do try to collect them all.