New Kecoughtan fake patches surface on eBay

In early March, 2011 several auctions for Kecoughtan patches appeared on eBay for items that typically sell for far more than the seller was offering at "Buy it now" prices. A close examination of the pictures accompanying the auctions led me to believe that the items were not authentic, but I withheld judgement until I had a chance to compare actual samples with versions that I know to be authentic.

The patches in question are the silver A6 arrowhead patch issued in 1976 for the Lodge's 25th Anniversary, and the round R5 issue that features an acorn on a black background with an arrow extending on both sides beyond the circular border. This patch, designed for use on a baseball type hat, was originally issued in 1993.

These patches are not easily discerned as reproductions. The seller, in fact, describes them in his eBay auctions as "A PERFECT CONDITION OA KECOUGHTAN LODGE 463 PATCH." The silver arrowhead, in particular, is very close to the original, and from the front could easily be mistaken for an authentic A6 if you didn't have a known real issue to compare it with. The fake round patch has a noticeable curve to the bottom tip of the acorn that is not present on the original. The easiest way to tell them from real versions is to examine the backs - the fakes have a smooth white fabric reverse material while the originals have very evident rough grid patterns. See the pictures at kecoughtan.com for more details.

When I contacted the seller with my findings he offered to refund my money and told me he purchased the patches at a Chicago collectibles show in March of 2010 from a booth selling many types of patches. The eBay seller says he is not familiar with Scout patches and says he was convinced by the booth seller they were authentic.

Don't be fooled by these recent fakes whose only worth is as a curiosity. The real versions of the 463 A6 arrowheads are generally valued between $50-$75 and the real R5 typically goes for between $20-$35. The seller is offering "Buy it now" prices of $14.99 for each of these fakes as well as auctioning some. There is no telling how many of these were actually produced.

History of the Kecoughtan A-6 Arrowhead Patch

The 463 A-6 arrowhead is a diminutive, simple patch whose complex historical background belies its plain appearance.

Just 3 inches tall and 2 1/8 inches across it's widest part, the patch has a gray twill background and just two thread colors: red border, lettering, and arrow, and an outlined dark brown acorn.

The gray background of the flap denotes its significance to the Lodge. This small arrowhead was issued in 1976 on the occasion of Kecoughtan's 25th (silver) anniversary. The design mirrors the first arrowhead patch that was issued by Lodge 463 in 1952 that had a green twill background, red border, lettering, and arrow, and a fully embroidered brown acorn.

The patch was designed not only to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Lodge, but as a limited edition reproduction of the original Lodge arrowhead it had to be earned.

The patch was announced in the November, 1975 edition of the Kecoughtan Kryer:

"In this issue you will find information on the Lodge 25th Anniversary Award, available to all members who meet the requirements on page 3. The award itself will be a reproduction of the first lodge emblem, the arrowhead, with a silver background."

Co-editors Tom and Dicky Wiggs wrote in their Editor's Smokesignals column that:

"It should be possible for every active Arrowman to fulfill the requirements …"

The Lodge Executive Committee determined the requirements for earning the 25th Anniversary Award patch, and as one Lodge member remembers:

"The requirements to receive the award were not trivial. They included service work far beyond the level that the casual lodge member wanted to devote. The service work requirement was intended to get the lodge membership involved in the considerable amount of work needed to prepare for the celebration."

To keep track of progress towards the award the Lodge provided a scorecard with dates of associated events:



In the July 1976 Kryer Co-Editor Tom Wiggs hinted at low participation in his Smokesignals column, writing:

"I again emphasize to all of you the dire necessity that you attend the lodge events. The lack of strong participation is hurting the effectiveness of our Brotherhood greatly. I would like to ask that you go forth to your fellow Brothers and promote greater Lodge spirit and participation for this, our 25th year. And that is about as blunt as I can state it."

The August 1976 edition of the Kryer reprinted the requirements and a reminder:

"How are you doing on your 25th Anniversary Award? The requirements are tough, and we know that anyone who earns the award will have shown a heck of a lot of dedication to the Order and to Scouting. Show us your dedication: be one of the few to leave the 25th Anniversary celebration with an award on your pocket!"

The Kecoughtan Lodge history booklet issued for the Lodge's 40th Anniversary in 1992 recalls the 25th anniversary event held Sept. 16-19, 1976 as a huge success, noting that 261 Brothers attended, including Dr. E. Urner Goodman, founder of the Order of the Arrow.

Dr. E. Urner Goodman, Camp Chickahominy Dining Hall, Sept. 1976

The booklet also noted that "16 Brothers received the Lodge's 25th Anniversary Award."

There were far more of the silver arrowhead ordered (500 by one estimate) than Arrowmen who earned them, so the Lodge Executive Committee was faced with the difficult decision of what to do with the remainder.

As one Kecoughtan Arrowman who was active at the time remembers:

"At that point it seemed like the best course of action to just go ahead and sell them and at least recoup our costs. At that point, the patches didn't mean much anymore, but were still a nice reproduction of the original arrowhead patch of the lodge. In retrospect, a reproduction patch probably shouldn't have been chosen as the award patch - too many people wanted one but didn't want to do the work associated with the award. That patch caused some hard feelings around the lodge that took awhile to go away."

Another Kecoughtan Arrowman recalls:

There were only a couple dozen folks to complete the requirements for the 25th anniversary award and the patch (gray arrowhead) intended for this award was in fact released for sale in the trading post because there were too many that would be left over. This proved to be politically contentious in the Lodge Executive Committee and there were some bruised feelings about it … It seems trivial now but at the time it was a big deal to some. From this we learned not to treat any patch award as truly restricted.

To properly award the Arrowmen who had completed the difficult requirements to earn the Award the Lodge Executive Committee approved a special handmade leather emblem designed by Duane McSmith. The one pictured below belongs to George Bains, who was Chairman of the 25th Anniversary Celebration Committee.


Although the silver arrowhead patch was the cause of some internal friction in the Lodge, it did not overshadow the 25th Anniversary Celebration which was hailed as a great success, and continues to represent a very special time in Kecoughtan Lodge history. Recently an Arrowman who earned it told me:

"I don't know if I ever received the leather patch made by Mr. McSmith - I looked through my memorabilia and couldn't find it, but I did find this one gray arrowhead - I guess it really does mean something to me after all these years - I wouldn't part with it for any amount of money. Thanks for reminding me of a wonderful time in my life - there are a lot of memories in this old patch."

Kecoughtan A-1 arrowhead patch design pattern

In October of 2006 an eBay auction featuring the original Kecoughtan A-1 arrowhead patch pattern from the manufacturer was won by Michael McCaughan, a Virginia OA collector and member of Blue Heron Lodge 349.

Michael was kind to share pictures of the pattern and the sample patch with me to include on my web site. He described the pictures in an email:

Here is a picture of the A1 design, the A1 they retained as a sample, and a close up picture of the thread count (in case you were curious). There is also what I think may be an order date (7/52) written in pencil on the top.

I asked Michael if he knew how the patch pattern came to be sold on eBay and he provided this explanation about the source, which is believed to be Midwest Swiss Embroideries of Chicago, Illinois, which was founded in 1950:

Apparently all their stuff was in storage in a warehouse in Chicago and the entire warehouse was sold off and cleaned out. All the patches were rescued by one of the workers who recognized the patches as Boy Scout items from his own time there and took the lot of them and put them in a garage/storage unit. Periodically he's been picking his way through it and eBaying the Boy Scout stuff.

The pictures above and below link to full-size images. The pattern itself should definitely be viewed enlarged so that you can appreciate the fine hand-drawn details of the design that dates back over half a century ago, long before the age of computer aided design programs!


Note that it was not unusual for a patch manufacturer to retain a slightly flawed patch in their files like the one above missing a letter, since the sample did not need to be perfect but the finished product delivered to the customer should be.