Lodge 459: Unlisted Lodge Issues? NOT!
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This was originally going to be one of two posts I was writing about unlisted Catawba lodge patches. I had the post written and ready to publish. However, I have since found out that these items are not issues of Catawba lodge. So instead I want to write a bit about the importance of healthy skepticism, and the importance of communication amongst collectors.
This first patch is an odd-ball piece from my Saturday night scanning session. The current owner acquired this piece from Johnny Pleasants’ collection. He believed it to be a Catawba lodge issue, but remembered nothing further about its provenance.
If you look carefully at the image, there is a small black “WWW” written on the stick across the top of the flap. The hornet’s nest is as it has appeared on several Catawba flaps, leading us towards it being an issue of 459. However, what’s up with the bugle, and the “23″?
I wrote Larry Banks, of Catawba lodge, about this patch and he was able to explain this piece. It is not an issue of lodge 459. Instead, it is a creation of Troop 23, presented to graduating Webelos Scouts when they joined the troop. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence with the hornet’s nest. The “WWW” may be just lines on the stick that unfortunately looked like letters.
This second mystery piece appeared my cut and dry. It also was part of my Saturday night scanning party and acquired by the present owner from Johnny Pleasants.
It is a simple felt silkscreened patch. It bears the traditional two green bars of a patrol leader and the words “JLT” and “Catawba”. The current owner says he was told this piece was issued for a lodge sponsored junior leader training (JLT) course and was the first patch produced by this lodge, a classic issue of the lodge.
Larry Banks was also able to debunk this story. It turns out the patch was issued for a district level JLT course. There is no connection with Catawba lodge.
Both these cases are examples of why it’s important to exercise skepticism when encountering what you believe to be an unknown or unlisted issue. If something has been around for decades and never listed in a collecting guide, the chances are there’s a very good reason for that. Neither of these patches were issued by Catawba lodge.
This is also a good example of the importance for collectors to communicate with each other. In these instances I was fortunate in that the lodge in question has its council headquarters only 2 hours away from where I live. I also have a reliable and extremely knowledgeable contact in the lodge. After just a simple emailed question, any misconceptions I had about these pieces were instantly cleared up.
I’d like to take this opportunity to exhort readers to keep their Blue Book editors abreast of what’s happening with their lodges’ patches. Also, please keep me up to date and flooded with scans so the images can be published on this site.
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