Bill Scott Posted March 11, 2014 Share #26 Posted March 11, 2014 I was contacted by two of my customers one was offered the blue airborne for 1000.00 the other guy was offered the blue airborne for 700.00.The next thought if you have 50 cents to a dollar in making an insignia and they sell to the first buyer for 20.00 each I wish my profit margin were as great on insignia I buy.I do not have an axe to grind but those patches should be thrown into a 2.00 novelty box.I bought 6 of the original 555th airbornes years ago for 200.00 a piece I sold them for 300.00 each I found out they were fake and ate everyone of them by returning my customers money.When guys are quoting 700-1000 for these insignias Houston We Have A Problem.Scotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted March 11, 2014 Share #27 Posted March 11, 2014 I was contacted by two of my customers one was offered the blue airborne for 1000.00 the other guy was offered the blue airborne for 700.00.The next thought if you have 50 cents to a dollar in making an insignia and they sell to the first buyer for 20.00 each I wish my profit margin were as great on insignia I buy.I do not have an axe to grind but those patches should be thrown into a 2.00 novelty box.I bought 6 of the original 555th airbornes years ago for 200.00 a piece I sold them for 300.00 each I found out they were fake and ate everyone of them by returning my customers money.When guys are quoting 700-1000 for these insignias Houston We Have A Problem.Scotty I fully concur with you on arbitrary pricing of patches. These should not garner any great money. However, what makes you think these were made for collectors if you never saw any in collections? You have to admit that their construction is consistent with WWII/1950's era patches, do you not? The war games theory mentioned above in addition to test pieces seem pretty plausible. I am not talking about collectibility, but to authenticity. -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Scott Posted March 11, 2014 Share #28 Posted March 11, 2014 Ski the 555 where constructed just like WW2 40s insignia and looked as good as these.They were so good they fooled me and my friend who I have alway looked up to Carl Robin.If you do not know who Carl Robin is he taught more people what real quality insignia was than anybody I know in the 80s and 90s.Do not close off your mind by how good some of the collectibles have become or you will be in trouble down the line.Carl and I figured out the 555 insignia was fake and I will bet you anything these were humped up within the last 10 years.At least the 14000 Liberty Loans were unquestionable these on the other hand are not.PS the same guys who made the 555s made a fantastic fake of the Army Language School and they are still being sold as real today.Scotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted March 11, 2014 Share #29 Posted March 11, 2014 Ski the 555 where constructed just like WW2 40s insignia and looked as good as these.They were so good they fooled me and my friend who I have alway looked up to Carl Robin.If you do not know who Carl Robin is he taught more people what real quality insignia was than anybody I know in the 80s and 90s.Do not close off your mind by how good some of the collectibles have become or you will be in trouble down the line.Carl and I figured out the 555 insignia was fake and I will bet you anything these were humped up within the last 10 years.At least the 14000 Liberty Loans were unquestionable these on the other hand are not.PS the same guys who made the 555s made a fantastic fake of the Army Language School and they are still being sold as real today.Scotty You are talking about 555th patches, I am talking about a 2nd Army patch that went for $20 each. But why do this? If the fakers were that skilled, they would be doing 555th patches or reverse the colors! I bet you can find the identical color clone to each of the blue patches shown above. In the end, it is up to each of us to determine whether a patch is original or not. I know you are highly experienced in your field as I used to peruse your table at the GLACA Wisconsin State Fair gun show with big eyes when I was a kid back in 1980. I highly respect your opinion. In this case, I just don't see these patches betraying themselves in their construction. By the way, do you remember a 13th Airborne Division patch I sold you then? Was that original? -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Herd Posted March 11, 2014 Share #30 Posted March 11, 2014 At the start of WWII numbers were painted on Army vehicles in a grayish light blue. I have heard that the black and white film used at the time had problems with the color blue and it would be hard for spies to photograph the numbers on vehicles. Could the all blue patches have been made for the same reasons. The patch could be identified up close but blend into the uniform when photographed from a distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocsfollowme Posted March 11, 2014 Share #31 Posted March 11, 2014 Well, there you have it. Said patch being sold as an experimental Airborne Command patch for $1,150 or BO by Patchfinder85. Why it pays to be an active member of this forum...to learn from the most knowledgeable collectors. It is the same blue as the 2nd Army and 1st Army Group. The original photo of this thread had the color off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greendevilsix Posted March 11, 2014 Share #32 Posted March 11, 2014 There is a “RARE ORIGINAL WW2 AIRBORNE PARATROOPER BLUE NO GLOW Experimental made patch” being sold on eBay for only $1,500. ITEM # 231178532018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88thcollector Posted March 12, 2014 Share #33 Posted March 12, 2014 To digress, I used to go see Carl in the 70's when I was in college. I could only afford minor TR things and I would save a few bucks and go see Carl. He had pigeon holes full of US patches back when there was limited demand. He had done his research and knew which ones were more scarce. He had a closet full of leather flight jackets and uniforms. I did not even glance at them then. Later on he put out lists of WW1 patches and I would buy almost every one. No photos but you did not need them, everything was great. The 555 patches look perfect, natural fibers except for the khaki ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tredhed2 Posted March 12, 2014 Share #34 Posted March 12, 2014 I don't have a dog in this fight either but wasn't there a ASMIC article about the post-war War Games patches? If I remember correctly the patches were all one color ( can't remember if they were tan, blue or red). The Jan-Mar 1999 Trading Post had an article on some blue and buff colored patches, w/ some of them depicted on the back cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted March 12, 2014 Share #35 Posted March 12, 2014 The Jan-Mar 1999 Trading Post had an article on some blue and buff colored patches, w/ some of them depicted on the back cover. What did it say about them? -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyDevil117 Posted March 12, 2014 Share #36 Posted March 12, 2014 What did it say about them? -Ski They called the patches the "blue series". They said they did not know why they were made like that. So that goes to show that the first corps and the 2nd army are at least 15 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1969 Posted March 12, 2014 Share #37 Posted March 12, 2014 There is a “RARE ORIGINAL WW2 AIRBORNE PARATROOPER BLUE NO GLOW Experimental made patch” being sold on eBay for only $1,500. ITEM # 231178532018. That's the same patch as illustrated above, to start this thread with (...for $1,150). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88thcollector Posted March 16, 2014 Share #38 Posted March 16, 2014 Ski, The airborne command with the red tab that was posted in the for sale section looked great too. You said it was made up in the 80s to fool collectors. Why couldn't this blue one been made by the same people? The red tab was all natural fibers except for the khaki. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted March 16, 2014 Share #39 Posted March 16, 2014 Ski, The airborne command with the red tab that was posted in the for sale section looked great too. You said it was made up in the 80s to fool collectors. Why couldn't this blue one been made by the same people? The red tab was all natural fibers except for the khaki. Can you give me a link to that comment? I don't recall making any comments on such a patch...... -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88thcollector Posted March 16, 2014 Share #40 Posted March 16, 2014 The Airborne Cmd patch w/ the red and white tab was made by some clown in the 1990s on a Schiffli to fool collectors into thinking it was a patch for the 555th PIB. I had the wrong decade. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202014-2-nice-airborne-ssi/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted March 17, 2014 Share #41 Posted March 17, 2014 The Airborne Cmd patch w/ the red and white tab was made by some clown in the 1990s on a Schiffli to fool collectors into thinking it was a patch for the 555th PIB. I had the wrong decade. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202014-2-nice-airborne-ssi/ Interesting. You must have been referring to another thread in your posting. I didn't post anything there. There must have been a better photo somewhere else that I would have made a call on a patch like that. Certainly not from that photo! -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan H. Posted March 17, 2014 Share #42 Posted March 17, 2014 You were right about the red tabbed Airborne Commands being made in the 1980's. I encountered my first one at an antique shop near Aberdeen Proving Grounds when I was going through OBC in 1989. I saw the first ones at the Max show in Baltimore that year. I'm very clear on the date here. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steverino Posted March 17, 2014 Share #43 Posted March 17, 2014 When my brother and I wrote the article about the blue patches and the buff patches for the Trading Post back in 1999, we did not know what they meant. We still don't. Part of the purpose for writing that article was to beat the bushes in hopes that the real story would come forth. Alas, it has not. Is the blue Airborne Command patch part of the same series as the blue Second Army and the blue First Army Group? I do not know. The colors look a bit different, and it looks very new to me - certainly not the well handled other two you see on occasion. What I would like to present here is that the two blue patches we displayed in the 1999 article have been in our collection since the very early 1970's, and we have always believed that they were of 1940's manufacture - no proof - just collecting experience. Did the boys in the NJ factory crank out the blue Airborne Command in an attempt to cash in on an old TP article? I don't think so in this case, but I am having a hard time in my mind making it out to be of WWII manufacture either. PatchJohnson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintageproductions Posted March 17, 2014 Share #44 Posted March 17, 2014 Steve the buff 5th RCT patches, I found in a small surplus store in the Ueno section of Tokyo Japan. I think you and Brother Dave got one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin_Militaria Posted March 18, 2014 Share #45 Posted March 18, 2014 My two cents. Like others have said, these were probably test runs through the stitching machines. Blue was probably the most common color thread they had, so instead of wasting Red, Yellow, Green, etc. they loaded all of the spools with blue color thread and white backing. They were discarded and probably a lot of the employees took them home. To me a test run patch is worth less then an original, nothing more then an error. US Medals that have errors are worth less than originals. I think some patch collectors have ran out of patches to collect so they turn to these. A few years ago I purchased a box full of error patches, most were wrong colors or had stripes of missing thread, misspelling, missing letters etc. The best patch in there was a 101st Airborne patch with attached white letter tab. Obviously an error. I still got a bunch of money for it because there was thought that a special 101st unit was issued these with white lettering?? Again, an obvious collection of patches from an employee that collected the discarded ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocsfollowme Posted April 8, 2014 Share #46 Posted April 8, 2014 So I was going through my patch database folders on my computer and found this one, XV Corps all in the same blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted April 9, 2014 Share #47 Posted April 9, 2014 Interesting to see that it was worn! Thanks for sharing. That construction screams a period piece to me. -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vzemke Posted April 9, 2014 Share #48 Posted April 9, 2014 Probably more accurate to say that it has been sewn onto SOMETHING. Worn, as in on a uniform, not necessarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocsfollowme Posted April 9, 2014 Share #49 Posted April 9, 2014 I agree with Vance. All just speculation: even with me saying that the blue thread on the front is poorly sewn...like we see on most patch blankets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocsfollowme Posted July 15, 2018 Share #50 Posted July 15, 2018 I just picked this one up, sorry about quality but it is sellers pictures. Wanted to post it now since it took me over an hour to find this thread again 6th Marine. Came with several other normal ww2 marine patches along with a set of 1946 china liberty cuff patches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now