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Theater made patches real or fake?


JerseyDevil117
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JerseyDevil117

This guy lists alot of theater made patches on ebay. Just type in "theater made patches" and his listings pretty much flood the search results. Until he started listing these i had never seen theater made patches like this. If anyone knows anything about these patches let me know. Here's some examples of what he sells.

 

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I've seen these type of "theater made" patches before and I believe I was even given some a while ago. I have never seen this type producesd in any theater I have been in. That being said I have obviously not been evey were. The type done on the 6 pattern DCU material were supposed to be from the Desert Storm era (I was told) and possible produced in Turkey. I can not confirm nor deny that statement.

I was in Desert Storm but only saw a PX /tailor shop ONCE (near the Daharan port or KKMC not sure any more) and at the time I did not pay to close attention. The type like 25th ID looks to be hand guided on a sewing machine. I have some from Victory base, Baghdad Iraq from 2005 that look similar but not the same.

 

we have many Vets on the forum that have "been there collected that" and hopefully will chime in.

 

I would say contact the seller and see what he knows about them and go from there.

 

since I can edit my post I WILL. having read VANCE's post below. I concure with his assessment. I have also never seen any of these on a" KNOWN GOOD" uniform or even a period picture

 

I have purcheased patches in the the following theaters Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar. all between 2005 and 2012.

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I've seen these both on ebay and in person (and actually own a few, including the 25th ID pictured). They are being sold by at least two dealers, both of which have very good reputations.

 

BUT, with that being said, I am completely convinced that they are "fake"/"made for collectors". What I mean by that is that they are being made (or made within the last 5 years or so) solely with the intent of selling to collectors and not to Soldiers for actual use. I say this because both dealers have a very WIDE variety of designs ranging from Desert Storm era chocolate chip camo to modern ACU, and they all look basically the same. They are also thinner, more flimsy, and more crude that most (not all) theater made patches I have personally seen and purchased in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kyrgyzstan. Granted I haven't been to every patch shop in every area of operations, so my observations don't constitute proof of anything.

 

If I had to take a guess, I would say that someone with a mid west connect had these made (or is having these made) somewhere, possibly in Kuwait, but not necessarily. Seems like 32nd and 34th Division/Brigade are strongly featured in this "series".

 

Vance

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BUT, with that being said, I am completely convinced that they are "fake"/"made for collectors". What I mean by that is that they are being made (or made within the last 5 years or so) solely with the intent of selling to collectors and not to Soldiers for actual use.

Vance

 

 

Vance I would tend to disagree with you on the patches, to a point. When I would stop at FOB Warhorse I could choose from a myriad of pre-made patches at the embroidery shop. They had stacks upon stacks of them and also could do special requests as well. The vast majority of the patches I got were the first type that were meant for soldiers to come in, pick up and leave which included novelty patches.

 

The ones I had made there were requests for nametapes, US Army and a few other requests. The shop itself had a very large full color book with just about every patch ever worn in it, from which you could choose anything to be made. The ones I had made I would consider to be accurate to your post because even though a soldier could walk in and have them made, they were as a request and not on hand. So in the spirit of 'made in theater' yes, the ones I sent home were indeed 100% made in theater but a small few were the 'collector' types.

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During Desert Storm and right after there were at least a dozen patch shops on KAAAB and in the mall in downtown Daharan. I hit 'em all, I collect USAF so I can't comment about the authenticity of those posted above. But I can say this: they all had different styles. 95% were handmade on sewing machines. Some look Filipino made, and a lot of the makers were from there. Many Pakistanis made patches too. It can be very hard now to separate period originals from some of the better made current copies due to the sheer number of styles encountered. Different guys in the same shop would do things their way. It would be interesting to know if anyone finds out if the posted ones are good or not, because they don't look much different from ones I got in 1991, including ones done on chocolate chip camo.

Randy

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flashesandovals

Here's a link to a page that covers all the ones I have in my collection.

Only some of them were removed from uniforms, none of those are on 6-color material.

The 32nd ADC SSI came off 3-color desert (DCU) uniform shirts I personally reveived from the veteran upon his return to Germany in 1991.

I removed the patches myself (shame on me, I know)

 

http://www.desertstorm1991.com/files/SSI/SSIDL.htm

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I have a handful of 1990's era, theater made patches in my collection. All are used and were purchased in the late 1990's. I am not sure about the identity of the last one. I have oriented as TRADOC, though if it were turned so the stripes are horizontal it could be Army Combat Command.

 

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No dispute that theater made patches were made immediately after Desert Storm, albeit in smaller numbers and somewhat less common than OIF. What makes me suspicious of the series shown and discussed here is that the ones that are supposed to be "Desert Storm" era (i.e. made on chocolate chip) are made exactly the same as ones offered by the same sellers made in ACU colors.

 

Very difficult to explain, but the "feel" of the patches in this series is totally different than anything I have seen anywhere else. Also, these were not made on a small scale, i.e. a soldier walking in and having a hand full of patches made to suit his needs/wishes. There was a seller at the last two ASMIC conventions who had many riker mounts FULL of patches made in this style. Lots and lots of them, heavy on 32nd BCT and 34th ID variations and sub units as I mentioned earlier.

 

Vance

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