2002 Year in Review covering 2001
By Roy More, ISCA #0020L
This issue?s column catches up on several events that affected the hobby over the past summer and fall.
Random musings on the Jamboree and patchesThe Jamboree was a mountain-top experience for the Scouts who attended. As in jamborees past since the first one, again patch trading was one of the most popular fellowship activities. In a free-association mode, here are some of my observations on the Jamboree and patch trading.
- Logistics at the Jamboree were better than in years past. Staffing needs seemed to have been addressed. Although there were initial shortages of staff most needs seemed to have been met by the Jamboree. They also reorganized the entrance area and Merit Badge Midway that seemed to work well.
- The paper reported that the BSA said they made 400,000 patches for sale at the Trading Posts. They also reported that the BSA said they were going to destroy all un-sold patches. We will see. It seems to be a waste though.
- Patch estimates ? over a million pieces, I am ?guesstimating? 1.2 million, patches were made with the words 2001 Jamboree on them.
- There are over 1,100 JSP varieties and a similar number of staff/participant items. In 1989 we speculated that the number of JSPs had topped out with all of the council mergers but there have been more JSPs each Jamboree than the prior one. I actually think it has increased interest in them with everyone having them to trade. This will be very good for the future of the hobby. Most were traded for 1-for-1. It was great to see!
- I did not see as much interest in staff items. This seems to have waned over the recent jamborees as there are more of these but fewer collectors seem to be serious in collecting them.
- This was the first Jamboree where the Chief Scout Executive (CSE) had a special Jamboree patch that he passed out to Scouts and Scouters that he met. This may well prove to be historically significant as, other than the CSE badge of office, there are not patches with the CSE name on them.
- I saw more troop numerals than ever before that say ?2001 Jamboree? or some variation. This will be a wild and woolly area to collect (comparable to collecting the shoulder arcs and tabs for the 1935 and 1937 Jamborees). There has been some interest in these for jamborees past. We will have to see if interest develops in these. They clearly are not as popular as JSPs though.
- Patch trading again was one of the most popular events at the Jamboree. Lest we forget, trading at these events surely goes back to the first Jamboree in 1920 on the world scene and in 1935. That we do not know much about these earlier jamborees is due to the reporting. Human nature remains the same so there was trading at these earlier events.
- Patch trading made the local papers. Some of the visiting reporters got caught up in the fast and furious trading that was going on and wrote it up.
- Scouts and Scouters were the most prepared for patch trading than I can ever remember. All had fists full of patches to trade. This was great! In jamborees past, participants might show up with 10 of their JSPs and trade them out before noon of the first day. This time they were better prepared and thus had trading stock well into the Jamboree. It obviously meant that many more patches were made but my guess is that councils and contingents had as much or more profit from patch sales even though they must have sold them at a lower price.
- 1973 NJ and feeling old ? I had some dupe 1973 national jamboree patches out for trade. More than one Scout mentioned that ?Oh, that was the jamboree my dad (or uncle) attended.? Ouch. To me, I am still trading this one for one for other patches I need but this was the first time I have encountered that those of us from this Jamboree and earlier are clearly the older generation.
All in all, the Jamboree and the trading there are good signs for this hobby for years to come. Tomorrow?s senior traders got ?the bug? at the 2001 Jamboree.
CSPs ? Its issues, issues, issues ? unless they?re from a ?patch of the month? council.At the end of December my firm offered the largest selection of CSP issues at public auction anchored by the Bob Walton collection. This auction had over 4,200 issues or about 75% of all CSP issues. Prior to this, the largest CSP collection sales were the Amster collection offered through private placement at set price and the Joe Mirenda collection that Rob Kutz auctioned in the early 1990s. Because of the selection and the visibility of the auction, it provides a good basis for assessing the status of CSPs in the hobby.
First some background. I believe that CSPs are the most widely collected theme within Scouting collectibles. Although there are patches that are now considered CSPs, CSPs became the official and recommended council designation in 1970 with most councils having a patch by 1973. The initial guides by Al Hoogeveen and then later Prince Watkins have been eclipsed by the Dave Franck, Jim Ellis and Dr. Tom Jones An Aid to Collecting Selected Council Shoulder Patches with Valuation Guide. We used this book as the catalog basis. Starting bids were set at the low estimate for items under $10 or 10% below low estimate for items over $10.
With these starting bids, over 75% of the lots offered sold. If certain ?patch of the month? councils, more on this later, are excluded then the percentages sold were well over 80%. This is above average for most auctions. >I coined the term ?First Issue CSP? back in 1989 and made it a section in our catalogs. It clearly is a major collecting theme within CSPs just as First Flaps are within OA. Over 95% of the first issues sold.
Table 1 presents some of the top dollar patches that sold along with their pre-auction estimate. Most are the major, historically significant and scare issues but there are a few surprises as well. As the competition for these was typically between experienced and financially capable collectors, I believe the prices realized are a fair reflection of the market at that time.
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Pre-Auction
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Council
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Issue
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Low estimate
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High Estimate
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Price Realized
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Adirondack C
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S1*
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$450
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$650
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$450
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Alamo Area C
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T1 (3-brick)
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$290
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$330
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$365
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Appalachian C
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Ta1* (c/e)
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$400
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$500
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$360
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Bronx Valley C
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T1
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$2,000
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$2,500
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$2,250
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Buttes Area C
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T1 ("ia")
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$800
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$1,200
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$1,200
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Cache Valley C
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T1
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$400
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$500
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$1,137
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Chief Shabbona C
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T1
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$600
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$600
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$717
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Circle Ten C
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Sa9
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$450
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$550
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$444
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East Carolina
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Ta1
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$430
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$470
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$710
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Juniata Valley
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T1
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$800
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$900
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$1,810
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Lancaster County C
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T1
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$500
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$750
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$1,314
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Mattatuck
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T1
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$1,500
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$2,500
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$3,153
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Middlesex C
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Ta1
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$1,300
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$1,500
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$1,350
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Mount Lassen Area C
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T1
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$300
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$350
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$747
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Nevada Area C
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Ta1 (purple dollar)
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$2,500
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$3,000
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$4,402
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Potomac C
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S1
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$280
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$320
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$261
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Riverside County C
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Ta1
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$1,750
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$2,000
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$2,000
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Twin Harbors Area C
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Sa1
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$750
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$900
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$2,851
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Direct Service-Saudi
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T4 (c/e)
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$100
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$120
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$1,313
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Yucca C
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T3
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$230
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$270
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$688
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Long Beach
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Ta1
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$200
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$250
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$637
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Catalina
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T1
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$90
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$110
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$276
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*used
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