Kecoughtan leather flap variety

Jason Spangler (aka Santeeswapper) is currently selling a leather Kecoughtan flap shaped item on eBay that is similar to but at the same time very unlike other varieties I've seen before. This example only has the center acorn, with no flags or smaller acorns, and has holes punched in the corners, presumably to enable attaching it to something since sewing leather is not an easy task.

When you compare the picture of the item on eBay with other Kecoughtan leather flap examples the center acorn design appears to be the same, indicating that the same stamp was used. Most Kecoughtan collectors I have spoken to about the leather flaps are of the opinion that it was never an official lodge issue, but probably the result of a crafts opportunity at lodge events. If you know more about the leather flap issues from this lodge, please share them in the comments.

Kecoughtan leather flap variation discovered

Last week I traveled to Virginia for a Kecoughtan High School reunion for classes that graduated in the 70's, and afterwards took my family to Washington DC to see the sights. Along the way we stopped in Fredericksburg so that I could check out the Trade-O-Ree and meet trading friends face to face that I previously only had the pleasure of knowing via email.

One of the great friends I was happy to meet in person was Michael McCaughan who helped me add a Chanco F1 to my collection along with an item I've never seen before: an uncut Kecoughtan leather flap.

Michael actually had three uncut 463 leather flap emblems in his possession, all with slight variations in the depth of the stamping and the color of the leather. He also related information about the production of the leather flaps he received from a former Kecoughtan member that corroborates what I have heard from others, namely that the leather emblems were stamped out informally at lodge events, not created and sold as an official issue.

Spring 1976 leather ordeal emblem is not an official issue

Since it was first published by the American Scouting Historical Society in 1996, the Blue Book Standard Order of the Arrow Insignia Catalog has become the defacto reference for collectors of Scout OA emblems.

In 2000 the third edition of the Blue Book was published, and for the first time included event issues for each Lodge. The event listings for Kecoughtan Lodge were provided by the late Dr. Ron Godby, who was the Blue Book regional editor for Virginia.

Based upon the collection of items shared with his son, Jeff, Dr. Godby's list of 100 event emblems spanning Kecoughtan's existence from 1952-1995 has remained unchanged in the Blue Book for every edition since.

There are three items in the Blue Book list of Kecoughtan event issues that I believe should not be included. One is the 1970 Fall Fellowship patch that was inadvertently released without the numerals corrected from "453" to "463." This will be a topic of a future article.

Two other items are leather items that I contend were private issues that were never intended to be official Lodge issues. These are the 1976 Summer Ordeal leather round and the 1992 NOAC leather round with leather thong and beads. For both of these events official Lodge emblems exist (the 463 R2 was distributed at the 1976 Summer Ordeal and the 463 S32 flap was specifically designed for Kecoughtan's NOAC delegates).

This article specifically discusses the leather emblem listed in the Blue Book since 2000 as:
463 eR1976-2, Spring Ordeal, Leather round

In over thirty years of collecting Kecoughtan emblems I've never seen one of these, nor had any other collector I queried about it. I should have gone to the source of the original listings many years ago instead of relentlessly hounding every Virginia OA collector I knew. Interestingly, this item does not appear on the list of Kecoughtan issues that was published in the December 1990 Scouting Collector's Quarterly authored by Ronald and Jeff Godby, so I suspect it was added to their collection at a later date.

It was only recently that I decided to inquire about this emblem directly to Jeff Godby, and it was because Dr. Barry Green was certain that if it was listed on Dr. Godby's list there must be one in the collection the list was based upon. Jeff confirmed the existence of it and sent me the photograph you see above. Unfortunately, he was unable to provide any background details about it, so I continued my search for information about it's provenance.

Duane McSmith created a number of leather issues for the Lodge, including the official emblems for the 1975 and 1980 SE-1 Indian Seminars that were hosted by Kecoughtan. Duane and his son Gary were both active in the Lodge in 1976, and when I asked Duane if the Spring 1976 Ordeal leather round was one of his works he replied:

I am reasonably sure I made this because the acorn stamp looks like mine and the lettering looks like mine. If I did make it it was just a few to "swap."

My friend Harry Hager (we knew him as "Chip" back then) also responded to my pleas for opinions about this piece:

From what I remember of the leather emblem shown, I don't think that it was ever an official lodge issue. I was Treasurer at the time and I know that we never sold this item nor contracted to have it made. I want to say that I remember this being a project of one of the older men in the lodge (like Milt who used to make the Kecoughtan lodge name tags) and that he had been fooling around with a brand hence the leather emblem. I don't think they were given to everyone (maybe just those in his chapter Pamunkey - maybe) but It was a long time ago. I'm 90% sure I have one at home just as an oddity. I could be wrong but I was pretty heavily into patches then and I don't recall this being a lodge issue. I do remember seeing it though but it's origin was more of a craft work piece.

Kevin Hopkins (who was elected Lodge Vice Chief at the 1976 Spring Ordeal) wrote:

I don't specifically remember this one but do remember that Duane McSmith was cranking these leather medallions out on an ad hoc basis (there are other designs floating around that you haven't run across yet, I'm sure). This looks like one of his - I'd bet on it.

Sam Fairchild assured me back in 2005 that no official leather Kecoughtan activity patch existed, telling me:

We did not have a '76 Spring Ordeal leather, for sure. Gary McSmith ran for Lodge chief with a leather McSmith patch, and we had the SE 1 Indian Seminar. Both of those issued leathers. The McSmith patch, which says McSmith on it, certainly is not a lodge issue. The Indian Seminar patch is just that. Otherwise, there was nothing else. Of that I am certain, since that was our 25th year, and I oversaw everything associated with that year.

When I finally found a picture of the item and shared it with Sam on the last day of August he reiterated his stance, saying

[It] certainly was a private issue that was not even known within the lodge. McSmith's dad made them, I think.

As a result of these findings I will be relocating this item from the event emblem listings on my site to an Unofficial Emblems category alongside the beaded version of the A5 (also created by Duane McSmith).

Unlike the Unauthorized Emblems like the ZS1 reproduction of the S10 Brotherhood flap and the ZC1 fake acorn-shaped chenille, the unofficial emblems category is designed to catalog items made by Lodge members that represented Kecoughtan Lodge but were never created as an official issue of the Lodge. Another example of such an issue is the painted plaques sold as fund-raisers with the Kecoughtan flap design.

I will also petition the current Regional Editor of the Blue Book to remove the Spring 1976 Ordeal leather emblem from the Blue Book event listings beginning with the next edition.

Many thanks to the Kecoughtan Arrowmen and collectors who helped me retrace history to discover the roots of this unique emblem. I'll bet Duane McSmith never anticipated it would earn so much interest 33 years after he created it in his workshop!

1975 Section SE-1 Indian Seminar leather emblem

The Dec. 1974 Kecoughtan Kryer reported that Kecoughtan Lodge accepted a challenge from the SE-1 Council of Chiefs to be the first lodge in the nation to host both a Section Indian Seminar and Newsletter Editor Workshop to be held at Camp Chickahominy on March 22, 1975.

The May 1975 Kryer reports that national experts Charles Taylor and Ben Stone from Oklahoma, Ron Head from Massachusetts, and Jay Dunbar from New Jersey provided Indian lore information. The newsletter editor workshop was handled by the Section Newsletter Advisory Committee, headed up by Sam Fairchild.

Kecoughtan Arrowman Mike Kinzie was originally appointed as seminar coordinator for the event, but had to relinquish the position when he was appointed as Section Chief. Kecoughtan Chief Ed Dadez appointed Gary McSmith to the role of seminar coordinator, and Chris Currier served as the seminar's program director.

A little known fact about the 1975 SE-1 Indian Seminar is that the leather emblems provided by Kecoughtan Lodge to its attendees were hand made by Gary McSmith and his father, Duane McSmith.

When I asked Gary about it via email in October of 2007, he confirmed this for me, describing the emblem as an "acorn and feather motif round," and remembering:

"My dad soldered a copper motif, I soaked the leather rounds and pressed them in a very large 'Rock Island' bench vise in my Dad's workshop on Homestead Avenue in Hampton.

 The fletching marks along the feather were made with a hammer and a small flathead craftsman screwdriver."

Elusive pictures arrive!

This past week has been exciting for new content at kecoughtan.com. I've been provided with photographs of items that I've needed for a long time. Larry Johnson sent me several very cool pictures, including one of the last coffee mug from Kecoughtan Lodge. It's not a design masterpiece, in fact it features a generic national OA logo with "Kecoughtan Lodge 463" imprinted underneath. But when it's the last photo you need to show every mug ever issued by the Lodge, it's welcomed as quite a prize!

I was also granted permission by auction hostess Melynda to share a picture of a 1992 NOAC leather round from Kecoughtan Lodge whose existence I was beginning to doubt since I had no details about it other than the fact it was reported to be a leather emblem. There's no sign of it on oaimages.com nor is it listed in the Blue Book. The only one I am aware of is now in the collection of Sam Fairchild who won the auction. This photo was the last one I needed to complete the Kecoughtan event emblems of the 1990's.

Now will someone please help me find out if there really was a leather patch for the 1976 Kecoughtan Lodge Spring Ordeal?

40th Anniversary Kecoughtan leather emblem

I was able to add a long-sought after item to my Kecoughtan Lodge collection recently. The 40th Anniversary Vigil Rededication leather emblem was issued to Vigil Honor members in 1991, and until I acquired this item through an ebay auction I had never even seen a photograph of it.


You can now find a picture of it on the web page listing Kecoughtan Lodge activity emblems from the 1990's. If you can provide any additional information like the number that were issued or who created the emblems, please send me an email.