Vietnam War Patches Identification Request for Assistance

[Clayton]

Gentlemen;

 

We have had these patches in our collection for over 25 years but we never really knew if these are considered official American patches. We believe they are South Vietnamese made. Could anyone tell us if these are considered original American patches?

 

Also, we are not certain the printed patch with the skull, bat, and TSDB designation is American.

 

Any help is very much appreciated.

 

Best regards to all,

 

Clay

[Clayton]

Reverse

[Clayton]

Unknown Printed Patch

[X_redcatcher]

hate to tell you, they are all copies, the first cav ones, are even known to who made them, I am sure someone will jump in on that, the others (Mike Force) are just no where near what the real ones look like, just too poorly done.

[River Patrol]

All are reproductions or fantasy pieces made about 25 years ago.

[Clayton]

Gentlemen;

 

You have told us what we wanted to know. This is exactly why we put them up here for discussion. You guys are real experts. Thank you very much for sharing with us. I could not tell a real one of these patches from a copy if my life depended on it.

 

We will deal with these copies in the proper way.

 

Many thanks to all,

 

Clay

[firefighter]

Agree all reproduction/fantasy patches.The last one is a PRU patch.There is a whole series of 1st CAV 'unit' patches that were made in the early 80's for collectors and found themselves in collections as LEGIT.

[V42]

All are repo's and done many years ago.

[gwb123]

Agree with the above. And they have been out there for awhile and continue to haunt older collections.

 

These all came from separate sources, but I am quite sure they all originated in the good ole USA.

 

I believe the two hand embroidered patches came from a former SF Officer turned collector and dealer. I am not sure if he was coping patches from his own collection. I think he started off by selling the real thing, but eventually of course, those ran out. It was a sad thing to see.

 

The printed patch I believe came off of a sheet that was part of a two sheet set that was sold commercially, one of the vendors being Lancer Militaria. I have a cut set that was one of the last ones he had in stock as well as his invoice.

 

The 1st Cav patches are part of a series that are all just horribly done, and then artificially stained as well. I think I named these the "dog's head" series, because the horse head looked more like a German Shepherd.