T Ambrosini Posted May 7, 2020 Share #1 Posted May 7, 2020 I recently obtained a grouping of photos, medals, ADC polar bear patches and other odds and ends. There are eleven polar bear patches, all removed from uniforms, and no two are alike. Is it expected to see this much variation? I can post photos later if anyone is interested in seeing them. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratasfan Posted May 7, 2020 Share #2 Posted May 7, 2020 Don't know much about them, but I would be very interested to see pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintageproductions Posted May 7, 2020 Share #3 Posted May 7, 2020 This is one of those shoulder patches that has lots of variations. I think someplace on here is an old post showing lots of variants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share #4 Posted May 7, 2020 Here they are. It's funny... It looks like the guy purposefully grabbed one each of every variant he could find for his personal keepsakes. To clarify, in my original post, I was asking if this is a known number of variants (or if there are even more), not if it was unusual for the guy to have gathered this many variants. Here is the first group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted May 7, 2020 The backs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share #6 Posted May 7, 2020 The second group... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share #7 Posted May 7, 2020 The backs of the second group... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share #8 Posted May 7, 2020 33 minutes ago, vintageproductions said: This is one of those shoulder patches that has lots of variations. I think someplace on here is an old post showing lots of variants. Thanks, that is good to know. I have looked for that older post and can't find it... Its possibly one that still needs to be converted and uploaded from the previous format. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocsfollowme Posted May 8, 2020 Share #9 Posted May 8, 2020 There are at least 30 variations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share #10 Posted May 8, 2020 Wow... It looks like I landed about 1/3 of them in a single shot. Thanks for the information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidKuparuk Posted May 9, 2020 Share #11 Posted May 9, 2020 Variations fall into two groups: those in which the bear's face is mostly white, and those with black (or blue) accents on the forehead, and around the eyes. (There are also variations in the star's design.) It appears the bear's face was originally mostly white. This patch has been subject to individually hand drawn modification more than almost any other insignia. Some show considerable artistic flair. In 1958 the spec was changed to include black accents. What is not known is whether the spec was changed in response to all the inked modifications, or the modifications were done as a result of the amended spec. Patches that were manufactured per the later spec show the black accent stitches on the back; the hand-inked pieces do not bleed through. There are at least a dozen variations of the mostly white face design, no doubt reflecting the number of individual contractors making patches during the war. There seem to be fewer variations of the accented type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Ambrosini Posted May 9, 2020 Author Share #12 Posted May 9, 2020 Thank you, that was very informative! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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