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Some Vietnam war era Seawolves patches from my collection


Patchcollector
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Patchcollector

Happy Friday all,
I received my latest Seawolf Det patch a few days ago and had to let it air out for a few days to get the smoke smell out of it before scanning.
I decided to dig out some of my other Seawolf stuff and post it together.As for my newest piece,shown in the lower left hand corner of post #1,

after getting it in hand and checking it out I'm confident that it is authentic to the era,(as are all the patches in this thread)and happy to have it in my collection.

Post #1 ,the Rowells Rats and Filthy Five,are Helo Dets,and the other one I'm not sure about but may be a maintenance related piece.I believe these 3 are all

incountry made.

 

 

post-13386-0-87239800-1392423748.jpg

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Congrats.....glad you like it. I personally do not think it's original to the time period. If you've seen originals...you'll understand why I say this.

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Patchcollector

Congrats.....glad you like it. I personally do not think it's original to the time period. If you've seen originals...you'll understand why I say this.

 

 

 

Thanks!I'm not the type of collector that gets locked into the mindset that a patch has to look exactly the same as others,especially with the theatre made pieces.Among my hundreds of Vietnam war era patches I have many variations in quality of manufacture and materials used.

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I can respect the search for unique or esoteric patches, however....

 

It's not really about "looks", as you say, because certainly many repros or fakes "look" like their originals,....it's more about "design elements" of the heraldry. While we tend to think "anything goes" when it comes to Vietnamese patch construction, there are limits to style and quality of the construction when it comes to originals from the time period of our involvement in the war.

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Patchcollector

I agree with your comment about the "heraldry".I feel that getting it just right was more important with the "official" unit insignia.When it came to the unauthorized,or at best authorized for local wear by the unit leader,things tended to loosen up a bit,IMO.
Even so,some of the more "official" insignia sometimes was off a bit.Not sure if you saw this auction last night for some Seawolf patches.One has colors I've never seen,the other has a misspelling and the text in the bottom scroll has spaces that I've never seen.They are authentic IMO and both have fairly common errors seen in Vn war era pieces.
I agree;it is not just about looks.That is why I withheld judgement until I had this patch in hand.It has the "feel" that is associated with authentic pieces,a bit stiff but not overly so(I believe there is a piece of paper between the cloth pieces,but holding it up to the light,saw no writing),and the backing is similar to some of my other authentic pieces.
All told,I'm 100% satisfied with the look and the feel of this patch,and am very happy to have it in my collection. :)

 

 

 

Here are the patches that sold last night,notice the color and text variations on them

post-13386-0-82227600-1392559716.jpg

post-13386-0-37631400-1392559721.jpg

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I agree with most of your comments......I'm glad you're happy with the Det4 patch.

 

I did see those patches last night and I saw the misspelling of the word "sea".......I didn't bid on these either.

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Patchcollector

Thanks!Yes there is the misspelling "Sed",then the unusual spaces between the unit designation in the bottom scroll.On the other one,some unusual colors are used as well.

Also,on my post # 5,notice that the Japanese made patch on the left has a white scroll with black lettering,another variation.

 

 

Here are the back views of the Seawolf patches that were on eBay last night,in case anyone is interested to see.

post-13386-0-13915700-1392563667.jpg

post-13386-0-85384400-1392563670.jpg

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That green and yellow Sea Wolf patch looks pretty bad, no shield and the colors are nowhere close, I don't think the scrolls have faded, this is what it should look like

 

post-582-0-18418600-1392575185.jpg

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Here is a shot of my Seawolves. As you can see PC I have an identical Japanese made one as you do. You can also see I have a couple similar to one of the 2 posted from E-bay. Bearmon , the one you post is one of what I would say three styles. All yellow,blue with red letters have the straight sides. You will see several others in my picture that are handmade yellow , blue with yellow lettering . These are always round on the sides. The other 2 similar to E-bay ones are what I would say Cheap Charlies version of the second style I described. most likely made for collectors or mades as copies during the period. As far as the space you describe PC, what you are seeing is one of 3 versions of lettering to the second style.They are for the word Light and are like this < L >, (L) and ' L' . There are ones made like the 2nd style except the circle where the US Navy Viet nam is white . What I would call the third style is the one with just the rocker to the bottom which was the first design and the most common, except hand embroidered ones which are scarce . There are a few other variations in chain stitch and other slight variations of the 3 ,I described.

post-592-0-81905300-1392682761.jpg

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Mitch you have a very nice group, I still don't like the EBay patch in post 10 due to the green background on the scrolls, the lack of a shield, Unless that little blob on the wolfs leg is the shield,.and no detail on the end of the trident!

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On post 10 if you are going to fake an insignia dont you think they could spell Sea correctly.I know a lot of fakers reproduce insignia but they do not usually misspell simple words.My opinion is its a real Sea Wolf insignia.If color were a criteria the SOG jacket I owned of Charlie Weavers years ago would be classed a fake ask Bob Chatt about his 1-0 jacket.Scotty

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Patchcollector

Mitch,nice patches!That quilted piece is a beaut!Bill,I agree,and also believe that the patch is authentic to the period.Bearmon,you raise some valid concerns but if you look at the piece as a whole it exhibits characteristics of a VN war era piece,certainly not the prettiest one though!I bid on both the patches in post # 10 and did not win either.I would have liked to take a peek behind the paper backing though,it looks interesting on the reverse.

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Bill, this is one I will feel happy I did not purchase, I don't believe a misspelling is reason enough to authenticate an insignia.

There are too many little things I saw that made me not like the patch. Someone purchased the patch, if authentic they purchased it at a really good price.

As long as they are happy with it what I think really doesn't matter. That is one of the great things about this hobby. The only person who has to like a patch is the owner!

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Patchcollector

Actually Bearmon,if you look at Mitches' example on post # 16,it looks like the scrolls background color is greenish like the one in post # 10.The "wolf" also looks similar,and the lettering style is close too.I think that you are onto something about the red "blob" on the wolf's knee.If you look at Mitches',there is a red spot as well.My guess is that whoever made the patch did not finish the rest of the shield,the yellow part,and the "spade".Notice too that Mitches' is also missing the "spade" on the shield.

BTW,your example is very nice too.

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