As some of you know, I am a Trustee of the Ten Mile River Scout Museum and have been asked to identify several patches.
During the 80th Anniversary celebration, the TMR museum a number of Scouting items were donated to the museum. I am trying to find more information on the three items pictured below. (Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.)
1. Full Square First Class Badge Yellow Border, yellow eagle, Dark Blue First Class Emblem, Squat crown. It is sewn to an armband with elastic to hold it in place. Perhaps a homemade armband for a position outside the unit level or to be transfered from one uniform to the next.
2. Square First Class Badge, Fine Yellow wreath, Silver Border, Gold Eagle, Dark Blue First Class Emblem, Squat crown. I believe this is some sort of Commissioner Patch.
3. Round (or cut to round) First Class Badge, Fine Yellow wreath, Silver Border, Silver Eagle, Dark Blue First Class Emblem, Squat crown. I believe this is also some sort of Commissioner Patch.
Any help in identifying, dating and valuing these items would be appreciated.
[phpbay]Ten Mile River Scout Camps, 5[/phpbay]
Using Mitch Reis’ wonderful book as a reference…
Number 1 (no wreath, gold badge outline, gold eagle, blue badge background) is Troop Committee (Reis ID TC2), in use 1921-1929. Although the similar SM and ASM patches were in use until 1938, the Troop Committee patch was discontinued in 1929 in favor of the Layman patch. The Troop Committee patch is quite rare because many committemen were not uniformed. I’ve seen a few of these on armbands, I assume to allow the insignia to be worn with civilian clothes.
Number 2 (fine gold wreath, silver badge outline, gold eagle, blue badge background) is Assistant Deputy Scout Commissioner (Reis ID ADSC2), in use 1920-1938. The modern equivalent title is Assistant District Commissioner.
Number 3 (fine gold wreath, silver badge outline, silver eagle, blue badge background) is Deputy Scout Commissioner (Reis ID DSC3), in use 1920-1938. The modern equivalent title is District Commissioner.
Dave,
Thanks for the information.
Since these items are not part of the mission of the museum, they will likely be placed on eBay this fall
Bill,
Dave’s got it right although I typically translate the #2 and #3 into their current titles as that is what most folks know – #2 is ADC or Assistant District Commissioner and #3 is District Commissioner.
The best of the bunch is #1 as a Troop Committee (or Layman, could also be worn by a Council Committee member). Its a very uncommon patch in part because a lot of these folks did not wear uniforms. Actually, I’ve more often seen it as an armband. I agree with Dave’s comments in that I don’t know this but it make sense that as an armband, these Scouters could wear the patch over civilian wear and thus was more convenient to have it on an armband.
I need to amend my own comment – the Council Committeeman for this era had a white outline against a blue field so there is another badge out there but I have been told that some of these folks also used the yellow outlined patch.
Regards,
Roy