Identifying Chanco X2 varieties

One of the challenges facing collectors who seek to add multiple varieties of Scout emblems to their collection is being able to identify which variety you are looking at. Patches that have slight color variations are especially difficult to positively identify unless you have samples to compare them to.

Recently I imposed upon my friend Mike McCaughan for assistance to determine if my two Chanco X2 keyhole shaped patches were in fact the X2a and X2b varieties. The Blue Book lists them like this:

X2a DYL C GRN DYL 120 mm key; BRN Native American; 10 mm fletchings
X2b YEL C GRN YEL  120 mm key; RBR Native American; 8 mm fletchings

The primary differences listed are the brown vs. reddish brown color of the Native American featured on the patch and the size of the arrow fletchings. The X2a also has a darker yellow border. While the two patches I own appeared to have visible thread color differences they looked more alike the longer I examined them and I could make the colors virtually identical depending upon the angle of the light they were in. I won't even tell you how frustrating it is to try to measure arrow fletchings to the millimeter!

Mike kindly loaned me his Chanco X2a and X2b patches which I carefully labeled as soon as they arrived. I compared them to my own and was glad to confirm that each of my versions matched his. In case you ever wonder which variety you are looking at, I've scanned them side by side, front and back, and added them to the kecoughtan.com web site on the Chanco emblems page so you can use the photos to help identify your patch.