One of the most widely collected areas in our hobby are council shoulder patches (CSPs). Every Scout can wear one. Most can be acquired for very little cost and are actively traded. With councils issuing so many special versions for recognition and such it can make collecting them a challenge. They are soon coming up on their 50th birthday as they became official uniform wear circa 1972.

The thing is, CSPs aren’t the first council (or community) identification shoulder wear. That would be what are now referred to as “Lettered Shoulder Patches” or LSPs. For the longest of times we referred to this whole area of collecting as red and white strips (RWS). I think it is because they were the patches, I’m dating myself, we wore on our Scout uniforms. The thing is, there were colors before RWS but that pre-dates almost all of today’s collectors. Here is some history on these and why they are so fun to collect.

Why collect these?

• They are fun. Although plain in colors and design, they are easy to understand and distinctive in their own way. Some turn out easy to come by and others can be excrutiatingly hard to even see let alone acquire.
• They tell the story of Scouting. Many councils never had CSPs. We too often forget that council boundaries were set not only before the internet but before the interstate. As mobility improved, territories (think councils) could come together to pool resources and professional talent.
• They add depth to a collection. There was a transition where most issues were without state identification to then including the state(s). This seemed to have happened in the late 1960s. And mistakes did happen although usually are quite rare.
• They show the reach of BSA truly spanning the globe where American’s were present.
• There are variations but not anywhere to the extent we have today with CSPs. For most councils, there was just one version of lettered shoulder wear.
• They haven’t been faked much. And the fakes that have been made are distinctive from the real patches as these were last issued in the age of cotton thread rather and Swiss-style loom embroidery.

Why so tough?

I have been told that a “full order” could be as few as a dozen strips with the minimum order being half that. That is, a council could order as few as six of one lettered shoulder patch.

For some of these, they are “gauze backed” which might well mean that they were stiched up one at a time for what was needed. For some of these, there may have only been one or two patchs made.

Some of these were only worn by council level professional staff and volunteers. Some were used for contingents to national jamborees and a few for world jamborees.

What is their history?

For the first 18 years of BSA, there was no authorized community or council identification. It was not until 1928 that they came into the catalog for some communities and 1930 for councils. I am of the opinion it was due to regional and national trainging conferences for professional staff that drove the need for council identification. Up to that point, other than world jamborees there were not multi-council gatherings. If everyone is from the same council, why does one need council identification?

From the first collecting book for red and whites by Art Hyman and Rob Kutz:

• 1928 Community strips authorized (khaki and red, KRS )
• 1930 Council strips authorized (khaki and red) for council Scouters only
• Early 1940’s size increased and other colors authorized
  • Dark blue and gold (yellow) for Cub Scouts (BYS)
  • White and blue (WBS) and blue and white (BWS) for Sea Scouts
  • Green and brown (GBS) for Explorer Scouts
  • Blue and blue for (BBS) for Air Scouts
• Starting in 1952, the specific uniform colors were phased out (except for Sea Scouts) converting everyone to red and white (RWS).
• 1972 discontinued although a few councils kept using a version and some commerative or fundraising issues have come out since.

Actually the hobby identifies these days the difference between the pre-World War 2 uniform color of “tan kahki” to post WW2 color of “green khaki”. The earlier ones are referred to as tan and red strips (TRS).

Why the transition to CSPs?

From a regional retired Scout Executive who as an SE at the time of transition in 1972 from red and whites to CSPs he said that councils could get stuck with inventory for a unit that came and went. Plus they took up a lot of space to store as inventory. With CSPs there only needed to be one patch for everyone. Now I think the Scouts lost something with this transition. I think it would be interesting if we went back to community strips and with current patch making technology, it might be well doable.

Other resources:

If you are a member of the International Scout Collectors Association, ISCA, you can download for free the Council Shoulder Insignia guide for free which inculdes full chapters on collecting lettered shoulder patches. Visit their web-site at ISCA Website. Go to the Members Only area for the CSI guide.

Examples from my collection:

Portage Trails Council khaki and red strip

Portage Trails Council red and white with type 1 border.

Portage Trails Council RWS with type 2 border.

Second edition of Portage Trails Council with Michigan added.

Examples of different versions of states strips.

Examples of different styles of community strips for the same community.

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I was talking with ISCA column editor Blake Keasey about a recent acquisition. How is it that 40 years or longer after the fact, these were phased out when CSPs came in, we are still discovering new red and white council strips or in this case a Sea Scout white and blue council strip? Up to this point this Birmingham Area C/Alabama strip has been unreported. That means neither Art Hyman nor Rob Kutz had it reported to them. Nor Bruce Raver. Nor Blake. Some of these have got to be real hens teeth. But its also why this collecting area is both fun and legitimate (that’s on my mind with all of the new, crude issues coming out for the 2013 Jamboree). They could be ordered as few as a “half order” or six.

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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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A friend just shared these displays of his community strips. He got several from us. What I like about this is the education opportunity. The patches aren’t just sitting in a binder and its easy to understand. He’s taken it a step further by adding the map to give it a visible element as well. Nice going.

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A friend just forwarded a link from eBay of the sale of a khaki and red strip for Grand Teton Council. After looking at it, my first thought was “Give me a f’ing break.”

The description says “This Auction is for a Grand Teton Council Thank You patch. Old School Khaki and Red Full Strip”

Now I don’t know what a “Thank You patch” is. I’m not sure what is meant by “Old School”, but khaki and red strips (KRS) were discontinued in 1953. He also has a red and white strip like this up that he also calls “Old School”.

More importantly, this council did not come into existence until 1993 as a result of a merger with Tendoy Area Council and Teton Peaks. Further, one can’t tell if this was issued by the council or not. As for “Thank you”, I’d certainly say that to anyone who would pay me $49.99, what he’s asking, for a patch that cost $1 to make.

Time to move on, and not bid….

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An eBay seller out of Malaysia has surface with some red and white and khaki and red strips that are modern, over-seas manufacture. Here’s one:

That he titled “IMPERIAL YUMA COUNCIL STRIP RARE”. Its a buyer beware world on eBay. I still liken it to the wild, wild west. Ebay has limited ability to police this so know your seller!!!!

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Nearly two years ago Don DeYoung took a poll of state strip collectors and identified five Cub strips unknown in any collection: DEL HAWAII MISS SDAK and WYO (one collector said he had seen a WYO Cub but could not identify the owner). Note that Hawaii and Alaska were not states when these strips were used, but full ALASKA state strips exist in both khaki & red and Explorer colors. The two known Alaska Cub strips say ALAS. I am not aware of full HAWAII state strips existing in any colors but red & white, althought there is a TH khaki & red strip (Territory of Hawaii).

We were able to locate a South Dakota Cub strip and get an image of it, but it was not owned by a national state strip collector. Then in March of 2006 a WYO Cub strip was discovered for sale on eBay in a large frame with other Scout and Cub insignia. The entire frame sold for over $500 and the last bidders were after the state strip only. In May of 2006 a South Dakota Cub strip appeared on eBay with a Sturgis town strip, and this lot sold for over $460. The remaing three unknown Cub strips have not been found to my knowledge. A third South Dakota Cub strip was offered on eBay just recently in August and brought a high bid of $405.

 A gauze back PA Explorer strip was sold by TSPA in September of 2007 for over $134. We think gauze back strips of any kind were locally made in small numbers to meet limited demand. It seems strange that there would be a need somewhere for PA Explorer strips, which are not otherwise rare. There is one other PA Explorer gauze back known to me and one IOWA Explorer gauze back known.

State strips are a different animal to collect when you consider that no one yet has completed a set of states in any non-red & white color, unless you accept the TH for Hawaii in khaki & red. There are several unknowns in Explorer (at least DEL and HI), and about half the states are unknown in Sea and Air Scout colors. Several of the known Air Scout strips are unique (one known to exist), including IOWA KY RI VA. The only known Virginia Air Scout strip has a rolled edge, which also is unique.

Part of the fun of state strips is coming across ones previously unknown, but that has gotten harder over the last two decades. EBay has revealed several previously unknown. Two others that have popped up in the last few years that were unkown to me include IOWA Sea Scout (winter) and SC Sea Scout (summer). Some believe they exist in every variety for every state, I am very skeptical.

Bruce Shelley

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We recently have had several conversations started by different collectors asking where have the ‘odd-color’ state strips gone? First, the frequency of the calls, basically out of the blue, make us realize that this is a more common collecting theme than we realized. As we got into it, there is some real challenge in this area and it isn’t getting any easier.

Some background

From 1952 to 1978 Scout uniforms used either red and white council strips (RWS) to denote location or a similarly colored one-line community strip with a separate small state strip underneath. These are the ones most well known by current collectors because we remember having these as boys. From 1929 to 1952 though the same style of strips existed but they were embroidered on cloth to match the uniform. Thus there were khaki and red strips (KRS) for Boy Scouts. We do even identify a Scout version that matches the pre-WW2 tan khaki uniforms as opposed to the green khaki post-WW2. These are called tan and red strips (TRS) for those who make the distinction.

Blue and yellow strips (BYS) were used for Cub Scouts. Green and brown strips (GBS) for Explorers. There were also strips to match the two types of Sea Scout uniforms – white and blue strips (WBS, the background color is always listed first) and blue and white strips (BWS) which were often felt. The hardest and rarest of all are the blue and blue strips (BBS) for Air Scout uniforms. Just think of the inventory challenge around these? Obviously this had to be the reason for the change to a single style, RWS, in a color that did not match the uniform.

On with current conversations

Well one of the collectors we talked to was pointing out a recent acquisition that he had made. He told us that previously none of the major collections had it and was thus listed as unconfirmed. It was the KY. (Kentucky) strip in Air Scout blue. It had been in Bob Cylkowski’s collection for, I am going to say, two decades at least. It surfaced at auction and this collector won it at $700.

The second call, actually the same day, was a collector who is again trying to put a collection together for all of the states and all of the colors. This collector has been collecting for nearly forty (40) years. He said this is the third time he has worked to collect these and it has gotten significantly harder. He said you used to see these at TORs or you could write folks and find them in their dupes. Not any more.

… and current ruminations

In our office Destry and I got to talking about these different contacts and raised the question – is there any community that has all seven colors? At first we could not think of one. I have a collection from Battle Creek, Michigan that has five of the seven. They certainly could have a white and blue and a blue and blue but I have not seen them.

In checking with collector Bruce Shelley, he said that all colors exist for Baltimore so there is at least one city but he went on to say that he is not aware of anyone who has all seven. Also, there are a couple of New York borroughs that have all seven but not all of the borroughs.

All states exist in red and white and there is a red and white “T.H.” for Territory of Hawaii. There is rumored to be a ‘T.A.’ for Territory of Alaska. There is also a KRS TA but I am not sure if there is a KRS TH.

We believe that all states exist in GBS and BYS but even some of these are still unconfirmed. Recently a WYO BYS surfaced on eBay and went for a significant amount of money. In the KRS, NEV. and S.C. are a couple of the hardest as well as the territories.

Now on to the Sea Scout colors. Actually, these were used later than the others and I think went into the late 1950s and maybe even 1960s. Even so, they do not exist for all states. A major collection might have 8 to 10. An extremely advanced collection might have 15 different. Both colors are considered equally rare although I would say the white ones are slightly harder.

That leaves the Air Scout blues. These are the hardest. Having three different would be a major collection. There may be at most 15 different. These could bring, when they surface, $300 – $1,200 a piece. I have had a MICH. and sold it to a friend thinking I’d replace it and never have. Live and learn.

They are fun. There are new discoveries or ‘re-discoveries’ in this area of collecting. It can be started very easily and in expensively with the red and whites and then advance to the early, ‘odd-colors’, for continued challenge.

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