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SACO Patch, Check It Out!


R. X.
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Hi everyone,

 

My first post here on the forum. Hopefully I'm doing everything right :)

 

Here I have a SACO patch to show. The cotton patch's diameter is 2 and half inches. It is not one of the (dare I say) more common silk ones, but also the construction doesn't seem to be made during the past two decades neither.

 

Has anyone ever seen anything similar? SACO is such a rare unit, I had trouble finding just about anything on the uniforms and insignia they wore.

 

Thanks for any inputs, happy to be on-board on the forum!

 

Ran

post-272557-0-37737800-1580178611_thumb.jpg

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Thanks for posting this as just like Wake1941 commented this same design has been seen on thin silk embroidered circular patches, painted leather circular patches and cotton embroidery on twill circular patches. The way your patch is constructed which looks rather thick in design with that leather backing piece has never surfaced before that I am aware of in any collections. SACO operated in the CBI theater so all of their insignia to my knowledge is theater made.

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Thanks gents for your comments! Certainly not one you'd see often. Would love to learn and see as much as I can on this subject.

 

Ran

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It's a nicely made patch, but I can't get past the materials used. I would expect a Chinese-made patch to have primarily silk components (mainly the background). Don't see that here. And the leather backing just seems like it's trying to "impress a collector".

It's not one I would buy for my collection.

What was the source of this patch?

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I might add, that in addition to just not liking the patch having a leather backing, I even more so don't like the TYPE of leather. For any CBI theater "leather" patch, I always look for soft (typically white) textured goat skin. The leather on this one is slick brown (pig skin?) - not the soft textured white goat skin I would expect to see on an original CBI theater-made patch.

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In my opinion for what it's worth I do not think the patch shown is a real War Time example.I have owned a lot of SACO patches in 40 years of patch business and never saw a Chinese made SACO patch constructed like this one.I think it would have been more believable if they had not sewn it over a leather disc which is not normal Chinese construction for SACO insignia.Scotty

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This is outside of my Vietnam era area of expertise, but I am seeing signs this might be a Pakistani made patch. The use of a securing knot spaced in intervals such as you see on the blue inner ring is typical Pakistani technique. The lettering suggests the same source, and the blue and white background materials look correct for Pakistan as well.

 

If it is a fake, someone coached the shop that made on details such as a leather backing.

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Interesting observations. Thanks everyone! In terms of source, this was out of a small town antique shop here in Minnesota. Only a few bucks, sold as a "WWII Patch."

 

I wonder if there are pictures of similar fakes around featuring different patches (or this one if it's a thing). Would love to learn the constructions of fakes vs. real.

 

Ran

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  • 1 year later...
9 minutes ago, Bearmon said:

 

 

its the same patch.

 

I know the seller.

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Great points in Scotty's post. Whether a replica, fantasy or fake, it's definitely post-war construction which by default means it is not genuine.

 

Then there's this pesky fact . . . SACO dissolved in 1946.

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