Rare Order of the Arrow Indeed! ~ 482 Lodge Chief Flap~ on Ebay

Black Eagle Flap S-30 Lodge Chief Flap

Ebay Auction

This is the Lodge Chief's Flap (Pictured Above). Probably better known as the "Former Lodge Chief Flap." This flap is not to be confused with the S-16. The S-16 (Picture Below) is a flap awarded by the lodge chief for outstanding service to the lodge during a fellowship. The lodge chief flap was supposed to get only "10" per term but an order mishap occurred on the reorder and instead of 100 the lodge ended up with 1000. When I left the lodge...the Lodge Chief was awarding 10 flaps per event so the rarity of this flap is all but destroyed but that should not lessen the meaning to those that earn it.


Black Eagle Flap S-16 Lodge Chief Flap

Anyway, the Silver Mylar flap above is a rare flap. There will not be many chances to get one of these flaps. The only people within the lodge that can get one of these flaps (and only 1) are Lodge Chiefs. When this flap was made a lot research went into tracking down former Lodge Chiefs. Mike Lardie, Pat Hanlon, J.P. Meier, and my father, who went to extreme efforts, to find former lodge chiefs. I assisted as well but my efforts were likely not as equal to some of their research. Tracking down former chiefs was not easy. Records of where people are 10, 20 and 50 years down the road simply do not exist in any lodge archive.

Anyhow, I do not know how many have been awarded of the 100 flaps. Probably somewhere around 40-50 of them.

Rare Black Eagle Lodge #482 Flap on Ebay (Click Below).

EBAY AUCTION Black Eagle Lodge S-30 Lodge Chief Flap

What bothers me about this auction is the person selling it does not know what the flap is and mistakenly labels the patch as an anniversary patch. The fact that he has patches from Europe implies that he may have been a former chief and simply decided to part with it because it holds little meaning to him. Patches do not mean a lot to some folks.

Regardless, it is a rare chance for collectors to get what will become one of the hardest flaps to acquire from Black Eagle Lodge. The auction is poorly labeled and will be interesting to see if collectors notice it. It already has five different bidders on it... ;)

Black Eagle Lodge 2006 NOAC Flap.

Black Eagle Flap S-33 2006 NOAC

Ebay Auction

The first sighting of this flap, for those of us that did not goto NOAC that year, was shortly after NOAC ended. It appeared on Ebay and went for around $50.00 if I remember correctly. I simply forgot to follow the auction and did not think it was a big deal. I will bid on the next one....

The next 482 2006 flap just appeared on Ebay.

EBAY AUCTION Black Eagle Lodge 2006 NOAC FLAP

I would of never guessed that it would be about a year and half later. Considering the amount of time that has passed...your guess is as a good as mine on how much this flap will go for. I will keep my fingers crossed but I am not holding my breath. The only thing I know about the flap other than its designer is a rumor. Someone that attended NOAC that year emailed me about the flap. He said that the 482 Lodge Member that traded him the flap informed him that only 100 flaps were made.

This is not a high run issue unfortunately. Break out the wallet for this one. While this isn't a threat. I can promise you one thing... I will make you pay for it. :)

Transatlantic Council Medal Collection

Ken Kittelberger's Metal Collection

These medals mainly appear to be volksmarching medals created or sponsored by the council for troops going on hikes at these events. Volksmarching is wide spread club or group of people throughout the country that walk around 10, 20, or 42km at a time. The 10 and 20 km marches typically have the same prize or reward while the 42km is typically for those that wish to run the marathon and usually has an additional or different end prize. Sometimes the trails vary in length from the standard. For example 12km instead of 10km. Those interested in the prize and recording their stamps for marching typically pay a small free before starting on the trek. Events usually have a stuffed animal, patch, mug, pin, medal or plate as an end prize and people typically goto specific events to collect such items. My parents used to take our family out on various events throughout the country and mainly did the ones with plates and medals as the end prize. The bratwurst, fries, and cola at the end was the reward I enjoyed and all the motivation needed to get me to go...not to mention the yummy hot tea at the rest stops on the volksmarches.


Ken Kittelberger's Metal Collection

Remebering and Revealing Black Eagle Patch History....#2

High Plains Chapter Patch eR1972

David H. Aufdengarten

The first sighting of this patch was in March 2000 on Ebay. It was purchased from the man above. The patch reads, "OA Klanjo 1972. Rota, Spain. It was an exciting discovery as it was an unknown issue at the time. I have only seen this patch one more time on Ebay after the initial discovery. It was being sold by TSPA.

David said, "The OA Patches were mine, I was tapped out in 1974 at Rota, Spain as an adult leader, which was a real suprise and honor. It was a pleasant suprise to see that you sent the payment in a TAC envelope. I hope that you enjoy you scouting experiences in TAC as much as I did as an Area District Commissioner in Rota, Spain, there is a lot of great Military Scouters that I worked with in TAC and it was one of the most wonderful scouting experiences that I had in Scouting. I'm sure by now they have changed the Lodge Patch as well as other TAC patches."

I am posting the discovery of these patches so that others can see and share in the experience. A lot of patches are discovered from older members who happened to be there at the time frame. Since Black Eagle covers so many countries it is almost impossible for the lodge to control any formal patch making. Almost every chapter patch in the blue book has been added on a "on my honor" system and most never saw the light of day from any LEC meeting. Black Eagle is a very open lodge when it comes to patches. Flaps and Activity Patches are really the main patches Black Eagle Lodge takes a lot of pride in. It is such shame so few collect the lodge activity patches.

Thanks David for expanding and sharing Black Eagle Lodge #482 patch history with me.

Remebering and Revealing Black Eagle Patch History....#1

Black Eagle Flap (Elder Brother) S-31 [20 Made]

John Paul Meier

For those that are even aware of this flap...This patch was JP's idea. It was meant as gift for various "older members" who were regular and long time supporters of the lodge. These were people who came to almost every event, always helped out at the events, and usually did more than fair share of the work. The patch came out around a time when the lodge lost a lot of veteran leadership and thus a very nice gift for those leaving. These were core members who were always there. I am sure folks stood up to the challenge; however, I would like to think that its not quite the same. As far as I know, all of these patches have been awarded and only myself, my father, and Dan Walker received one these flaps who already PCS'd back to the US.

It was a flap mainly for adults. I am not sure if any youth received one. I guessing a one or two did. Usually, I would be against such a patch but there is nothing wrong with an exemption every once and a while. After all, the patch was approved by the LEC. Keep in mind most youth are not members of the lodge very long as they tend to PCS and move with their parents or go off to college back in the US when turning 18. Its very difficult to become a vigil member in Black Eagle Lodge as a youth because of that and very hard to make a lasting impact as youth...as life tends to go on.

New Namassakett Chapter Discovery

Namassakett N-2 Neckerchief with yellow threads

Bob Cylkowski shared this with me a few days after I submitted the my final listings for the last Blue Book update. He discovered another N-2 neckerchief that has red threads holding the shield in place around the green hoop. I debated a few minutes on what to call it. I decided to label it as the N-2.5


Namassakett N-2.5 Neckerchief with red threads

Great discovery Bob and thanks for sharing with all of us.

Overseas Collecting on the Rise?

Transatlantic CSP

The trend of anything overseas seems to be growing in demand. This seems at least true about Ebay. Many new and old collectors jumping into the collecting bandwagon. I often wonder if they know what they are even bidding on at times. Basically, if its a patch not on Ebay every week someone bids on it and takes it home.


1967 Intercamp Patch

Intercamp patches have been receiving an increase interest on Ebay when they appear. For years they were mostly ignored and did not attract much attention. If your wondering, Intercamp is an international camping event where multiple European countries get together once a year for a friendly scouting adventure filled with events and games for all. You get to meet people from all over Europe and share scouting values with each other. Even a fair amount of patch trading goes on. If you like international scouting items this would be the best camp to attend outside of a world jamboree. They even have a nice patch museum on site. The 1967 Intercamp patch above was bought a few years ago on Ebay on buy-it-now option for $20.00. I often wonder what it would have cost me if it was an auction instead.


Camp Columbus Rota, Spain

There is a noticeable increase for Council Camp items from Transatlantic Council. Camp Mohawk items have always been slightly popular but now even camp items that seemed mostly ignored have increased in demand. Its just a trend I am pointing out. I do not think this is a bad thing at all. Increased demand for these items will hopefully increase awareness of these scout items.

Bluebook Responsibility & Issue Classifications

Many traders do send editors scans and information about patches. I honestly can not picture what it must be like to have a whole region. I find one lodge a challenge as it is. The problem I have with the system is I can not simply rewrite the classifications and delete all the odd listing. It is important to preserve the old classifications for reasons beyond my understandings. Eventually, the listings of the issues will start to blur and become a mess. What do you do when prototypes and fakes start showing up on older non flap issues like activity and chapter issues that you never dreamed of seeing?


Fake of eX1965

This real version of this activity patch has never been sold publicly to my knowledge on the net... The real version hasn't tasted Ebay as far as I know. I have heard or seen of about 5 or 6 of these patches. What do I call it though? What happens to the eX1965 issue? Is it now the eX1965-1 and eZX1965-2? Your guess is as good as mine. :) Heck, if you goto Ebay and search the whole site typing "Black Eagle 50th" you can buy one too for $19.99. As of Dec. 04, 2007 there are two available by the seller for purchase as buy-it-nows. Ken shared this with me a couple months ago so now I share it with you. Don't say I never gave ya nothing for free.


Like J-6 with Black Border

I was still overseas in the lodge when the J-6 was issued. All of them had a white border. This one is just like the J-6 but with a Black Border. It appeared on Ebay and well...I forgot to bid on it :(. Anyhow, I do not know if it is a proto-type, a re-order, a fake....or what. I can not call it something without having any information. If anyone in Black Eagle ever bothers to answer my emails that involve talking about patches maybe this mystery can be easily solved. I will sit on it until the next due date for blue book issues if I have too and give it the benefit of the doubt I suppose.


Like eX1991 from the Amangi Wachtschu Chapter

This is obviously a sample to eX1991 to the Amangi Wachtschu Chapter. It appeared on Ebay a year or two ago. I did not win this patch but there was a sample for the eR1990 chapter fellowship as well and I did win that one. Again, what do I call it? The eYX1991-2 making the original the eX1991-1?

Its a personal choice whether or not to include these patches in the bluebook. I am not even sure if a half dozen people are even aware of these posted patches and what is scary... There are more patches I have not yet posted about. The same seller that made a fake of the eX1965 also made a fake of a Black Eagle Chapter patch that I did not even bother to buy. I couldn't justify buying a fake of a chapter patch when the fake costs more than the real patch..*blink blink*. I have another scan of back patch prototype I haven't included yet.

Outside of two other major Black Eagle collectors Ken K. and Dan C. I receive little or no information about patches. With all the people buying Black Eagle patches off Ebay (and other auction sites) referencing our hard work and my website you would think these sellers would take the time and write me back and provide with some simple information...it doesn't cost anything to send an email.

Power of Suggestion...Mysterious White Flap

I was approached by a person (name held for privacy) by email about this mysterious white flap. He told me he had a friend from Midwest Swiss that sent him I believe 3 white flaps in a large grouping of patches. He believed it was a prototype or sample made by the company. He offered to sell me one and asked me to pass it on to friends who might be interested in buying one. I offered to pay $100.00 and he accepted and I received my patch a few days later. He also told me that he had more flaps on the way from his source and when they got in that there was no more mysterious white flaps in the package.


ZS-8 (Midwest Swiss)

The more he talked with me about the flaps and the more I talked with a couple Black Eagle Collectors; the more I felt that something was off about this patch. At first, I embraced it as a potential prototype. I was reading SPA blog and apparently some other collector ran into similar situation with a different lodge and started questioning its true origins as well. Just when all the dust settled a seller on Ebay was selling a lot of 5 of these white flaps on Ebay. Rare proto-type my foot. I won that auction and a fellow collector asked about buying one from me. I wasn't feeling all up to snuff that weekend so I didn't get back to him over that weekend. He was offered a second chance option to buy his own lot of 5 flaps and who knows how many other second chance offers were sent out. There are sure a lot of these white flaps for an issue never ordered with that color background. So many, you could almost call it a full blown issue.


$Show Me The Money$

Regardless of your personal feelings about this patch...The bottom line it was not authorized by the lodge for release. Based off that conclusion alone that makes this patch a "Z" instead of a "Y" for prototype or sample. If that is not enough evidence for you the sheer number of them should also disqualify it as a prototype or sample. This patch is about as valuable as 2 Million Zimbabwe Bank Notes. I urge you not to invest too much money into this flap. Pay what you believe it is worth.

I would love to be proved wrong about this patch. I feel bad about this issue because I convinced another collector to buy it based of my opinion of it. In honestly, I felt like I was taken advantage of. While I do not necessarily blame the person that sold me the patch I can blame his source and the company that allowed these patches to leave its site. You think a company that keeps worthless cloth lying around all these years would keep invoices for the orders as well. Show me an invoice for this patch and I will gladly accept it as official.

Been A While...Happy Trades :)

Black Eagle

I haven't posted in a while. Nothing like stating what is very apparent. Part of it has to do with not a whole lot going on patch wise but I could of found plenty of stuff to post about in all honesty. Some of it was being lazy or simply bored of the blog for a while. So what has changed?

A few days ago I was contacted by Dean Smith who traded me a whole chapter worth of Black Eagle Lodge Patches. Offers like this do not come very often and I am very pleased to finally see some Black Eagle Lodge action again. Dean has finished all of my High Plain Chapter Patch Needs.

(Click on Picture for Larger Scan if Available)



eR1981
(Dean was actually apart of this Dance Team)

This is just one of four patches on their way to me. The rest can be seen on my website at blackeagletrader.com