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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.
Just received an interesting pic. Its a 1953 National Jamboree flag from a council I’ve not seen before. See Lower Rio Grande Valley Council in the title. This council name does exist although it was listed as going out in 1947. Other than this flag I’ve not seen anything with this name on it. Anyone have anything?
Destry has been trading e-mails with ISCA OA columnist Bruce Shelley regarding something Destry discovered recently while antique hunting. He came across a can of Swift Premium lard, fortunately empty. What jumped out at him was the logo for the company is exactly that of a patch that surface a few years back and was attributed to Suriarco Lodge 239.
Some background. Suriarco is derived from the home council “Suwanee River Area Council” out of Florida. Records indicate that the first OA lodge there was named Suriarco. Up until about ten years ago, this lodge was not known to have any patches or issues such as neckerchiefs.
Then the following patch surfaced (see front and back below):
The possibility of this being a Boy Scout Order of the Arrow patch from a lodge with no known issues could turn a piece of cloth from being a curiosity into something worth thousands of dollars.
Here are examples of the Swift Premium Company’s logo at the time. The exact same “S”, arrow, and red-white-blue colors although laid out differently.
Swift & Company Logo on Fort Worth Building
As Bruce noted:
Interesting, but not conclusive. I wonder if the badges had been worn on
uniforms of delivery people or something?
And a tub of lard, which the patch might turn out to be as well:
This is an after the fact jamboree blog, in part because we were so busy I couldn’t live blog, but the Army closed the base to visitors on Saturday 7/30 at 11 am because the Scouts had filled up all available parking. I heard from my Scout Exec yesterday that the Scouts were expecting 30,000 visitors but had gotten 45,000 by the time they closed the base. He said an all-council e-mail went out from HQ notifying councils that the base was closed and that they could not take any more visitors. For those who want to question Scouting’s relevance, see NY Times article, they are wrong. Now are Scouts adapting to changing times as fast I would like? No. But, relevant? Yes. Actually, seeing the leadership deficits at all levels of politics and corporations I believe we need Scouting more than ever. Does it need to adapt? Yes. Overflowing crowds though indicate that we must be doing something that people want.
Also, my Exec said they had a ‘shining light’ gathering for the simulcast of the Saturday show. Very well attended. Very positive. The simulcast was a great idea by National. I haven’t checked to see if it is on YouTube. It would be good if it is.
Troops began to depart at 3:30 this morning. Earlier when passing a group of Scouts in line I snapped the following picture:
Not once did I see one of these patches out for trade. My basic conclusion is that we will never know what all was issued for this Jamboree. Someone could collect this jamboree for the rest of their life and not have it all. Still though, it will give us things to look for.
While counseling the Collections merit badge, one of the questions I would ask was “Out of this group of four patches, which one is the fake?” I would set out an old Grand Canyon CSP with BSA but no FDL, an Ashie pre-FDL flap, a 479 NOAC flap, and an Echokotee privately made re-issue. I don’t think I ever had a Scout who got it right.
Some thought the Grand Canyon was a fake because it did not have a FDL. Everyone got the 479 right (it had a FDL but some were still guessing as it did not have printing on the back nor a hologram).
They almost all said the Ashie was a fake. Why? Because it did not have BSA or FDL or BSA printing on the back, none of my examples did, nor a hologram on the back. To a person they all said the lodge 200 flap was real. Thus the teachable moment. What you have been told is wrong. The only way to know is to get knowledge. And, until then trade 1 for 1.
For me at least, this was the first Jamboree where having wireless mattered. The system AT&T set-up seemed to work well with good response rates (although there was one time I could not get a call out because all circuits were busy). I wonder what it will be like in the hills of West Virginia.
But… AT&T provided something even more valuable. See below:
AT&T provided personal sunscreen bottles. VERY handy.
The Collections merit badge requires a Scout to show their collection. Some Scouts left their collections at home. So they had their family either: e-mail them a picture to their cell phone, e-mail a picture to Craig or even fax a picture in. Its a new era of interconnectedness. Although, more than one person commented that they did not see the kids ‘two-thumbing it’ almost at all. They were too busy doing things to be spending time texting. What does that say about school and after school where the kids are sending 100s of texts a day?
Collector Doug Schwab came by the booth. He is a Board member, and was a VIP guest, from Potomac Council. He showed me the patch they got at the VIP visitor’s center. Each council could designate something like three VIP guests to the Jamboree. At 300 councils that would be about 1,000 patches plus whatever else was passed out. Later in the day I was at the Eagle Lodge TOR and a Scouter who was wearing the patch said he was also able to get one for his wife and daughter. This is a nice, but not rare, patch. I’m seeing ridiculous prices on eBay now for this item. Be patient. It will be found more cheaply later, IMHO.
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