So if Bruce is the Last Boy Scout, then this guy was the first? ;)
Posted on 12/01/2005 10:37:28 PM PST by ncountylee
BAY CITY, Mich., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A Michigan Boy Scout patch thriftily saved for more than 50 years has been sold on eBay for almost $14,000.
Herman Gaskins -- a lawyer and former Scout who put in the winning bid -- does not plan to keep the Order of the Arrow Lodge 214 patch, the Bay City Times reported. He is an avid collector but his specialty is southern Order of the Arrow patches and he plans to trade the Michigan one, believing that its rarity will help him get several items for his collection.
"I purchased this patch purely on speculation, because they normally go for up to $25,000," he said. "This is the Holy Grail of Order of the Arrow patches."
The patches are rare because Gimogash Lodge 214, based at a camp near Selkirk, Mich., did not exist for very long, Gaskins said. The patches also contain the word "Service," according to a legend because a seamstress cut the triangular patches down from round ones that said "Rural Electric Service."
The seller earned the patch as a member of the lodge during World War II.
Sweet! I have some council strips from the 1950's and 60's!
Threw mine out long ago. Good luck.
My family is made up of pack rats. We throw almost nothing away. I got my complete brownie and girl scout uniforms, bennies, sash and badges. Heck I even still have my girls state bennie. My mom let us leave our rooms just the way they were when we left and they are still there. Really fun to spend the night. Not to mention my old love letters and such. They seem really sillly now.
That figures, I HAD a Flaming Arrows patch from the Sam Houston Council from the early '70's...
Day, late dollar short as usual.
That's awesome that your Mom keeps your room exactly as it was. Must be like stepping into a time machine.
LOL My room was redone when I came home from college for the first time. Of course, I had pretty much me to blame for heavy wear and tear.
You're in good shape old sport. My recollection is that all the council strips had to either add "BSA" or the fleur-de-lis by the late 70's, so anything earlier than that is unmistakably older and almost by definition rarer. Even at the 1981 Jamboree, the "older" council strips were trading at a premium.
Were you at the 81 Jamboree? I was. That was one heck of a great time that I will never forget. It was my experience that that helped make me determined to earn my Eagle. The best part was wandering around D.C. and getting to go just about anywhere if you had your uniform on.
Yep, man what a great experience for a kid that is. Patch trading was the coolest part of it for me & meeting peopel from all over the country. That might have been the first time I had buffalo wings; I think they hadn't really hit the mainstream yet.
We didn't go to DC, it was straight to the Jamboree and then straight back. Heck that was enough for us country boys.
That is so cool. I am going to do that for my two boys. Thanks for the idea.
"Not to mention my old love letters and such. They seem really silly now."
The ones you got back from David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman? LOL! I have those old churned-out "fan letters" somewhere. ;)
So if Bruce is the Last Boy Scout, then this guy was the first? ;)
I have a metal (brass?) key chain from the '60s it's in my pocket now and has been for the last 20 years at least) that has "Be Square" and "Do Your Best" on one side (along with a bear cub and "Cub Scouts BSA"), and the motto, "I promise to do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to be square and to obey the law of the pack."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.