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Thoughts on these OEF multicam "Theater mades"


TNFISTER
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Hey all, cleaning out collections.. These are the latest pickups the first came from a surplus shop at Campbell the other from online. My question is anyone familiar with current and recent Afghan Theater mades... do these look familiar, The first has all charactoristics its just the strange tab has be wondering, the second is well.... IDK

post-25162-0-75698400-1418412189.jpg

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Neither look like anything I saw being made and sold in Afghansitan. Granted, its been a few years and I of course haven't seen everything. Anything is possible, but I personnally have my doubts about both of these.

 

Computer generated and guided patches are common over there, but the results usually end up looking a bit different than the ones you have here.

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I've got exactly same patch as your number 1 in collection, bought it from vet couple years back, your number two looks OK to me, they made some damn ugly patches over there.

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Was there any story with the second one? "Bought online" is somewhat vauge and usually seems to imply ebay (which in not necessarily a bad thing, tons of good stuff shows up there).

 

Merrowed edge patches are VERY unusual to have been made in theater, but are pretty much standard for junk copies made in other countries and sold as souviner patches, air-softer patches, etc. Unless there is some evidence that this style was being sold in Afghansitan, I still can't believe its theater made. I think we can all be a little quick to assume something is theater made just because it looks different. Its a convenient classification, but not always accurate.

 

Just like Vietnam made patches, OIF and OEF theater made patches have distinctive patterns and trends in how most are made that you begin to notice if you hand enough legit ones. Both of the ones posted above are "outliers" when it comes to the patterns/trends. Doesn't mean they aren't real, but thats why I am suspicious of them.

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aussie digger

As mentioned with the second one it dosnt look like the ones I saw being made in Afghanistan. However allot of the merrowed edge Afghan made patches are actually done in China and places like that and sold in country.

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Here in lies the problem now and 30 years down the road.With computor made patches there will be a hard time knowing 1100 percent if it was or is done "in country" even with the ones bought there I feel there will always be speculation.Trail of ownership etc is nice but after an item changes hands a few dozen times is it really provenance or "just a story"?

Especially will people I know who have actively had things made "in country" just for continued resale at every military show they attend.

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aussie digger

In country made fakes is another massive problem all together! There are people trawling sites like this looking for patches to have made whilst in places like Afghanistan.

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Thanks for the input. The 1st one just looked unusual because the lack of the top border the tabnormally sits on. It was in a bundle at im sure most of you are familiar with the little surplus shop next to eagles of war near vCampbell. The second you are right it was from an eBay seller that said it was purchased by him in theater... but never returned pm s I sent. I think its China made for air soft... but didn't realize those I guess are sold in Afghanistan in places there.. thanks so much

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I have been in Afghanistan since April at three different bases. Bastion, KAF and BAF. I am seeing more merrowed edge patches with Velcro being sold at KAF and BAF than when I was at BAF in 2011-12. There where a couple of shops at Bastion that were getting patches from Kandahar. I do believe many are being made in China for resale here in the bigger shops. There are also plenty of patches being made locally on the computerized machines, however I have not seen any of them with merrowed edges.

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Both look computer done to me but as mentioned above that really doesn't rule out Afghanistan. I don't have a problem with either of them but will concur that provenance will be key with these over time.

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USMarineCorps

neither one if afghan made for sure. That doesn't take away they could have been sold at a PX store at a base, but these are definitely not made in Afghanistan.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey all, cleaning out collections.. These are the latest pickups the first came from a surplus shop at Campbell the other from online. My question is anyone familiar with current and recent Afghan Theater mades... do these look familiar, The first has all charactoristics its just the strange tab has be wondering, the second is well.... IDK

 

This one is very similar to the 2010 ACU version made on the old Camp Vance (subsequently renamed Montrand (sic)) on BAF. I personally picked up the 2010 ACU version with the distinct look of not having a separate tab and shield. However, my version was backed with Velcro so I can not compare it to the backing of your patch. Considering the shape and color, the patch is likely a continuation of that patch variation from ACU into multicam. Tom

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The second

 

I cannot confirm the following info applies to this patch (second patch). However, this one looks a lot like the type made by a gay in Colombia (South America) who used the same type of black nylon material. None of his patches were official as he was attempting to make a buck but made them "not to standard". I have one of his 82d ABN DIV patches.

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I was out in the western wastelands and everything in those shops was brought from KAF or BAF. On one trip to KAF, I made it to the boardwalk and found the famous patch shop back in the NW corner. They had machines and could make patches there, and I struck up a conversation with the guy and asked if I could get a tour. As the guy was walking me through, behind one desk was a box of patches in that usual crinkly cellophane and in the corner was that standard gold oval tag "China" Right next to the desk was a guy hacking out a patch by hand on a sewing machine. Long story short, theater made patches no longer mean some dude on a sewing machine and bamboo hoop doing machine work on every patch. It means that they are resourceful and will use whatever resource they can to pull every dollar out of your pocket that they possibly can. I had several patches made while there and every single one was a cut edge patch that was produced in the shop in KAF, so if you have a merrow edge patch and KAF was the premier patch place, I can pretty much lay money on the fact that it wasn't theater made in Afghanistan.

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Looks like the content of the patches has gone down hill. Not sure why they would be making an Iraq MNF-I patch in AFG. One of my contractor buddies said the board walk sew shop was relocated to the PX area and the price for patches is no less than $12 a patch (small one and more for larger patches). Tom

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