Abbreviations Explained: LB, MTZ, GER
Posted in Patch Collecting by John E. Pannell on February 8th, 2008 at 4:25 am 
There are many abbreviations used in Blue Book and on this site that may not be readily apparent to collectors, especially those with less experience in this hobby. Scott Dillard has written an excellent explanation of many of these abbreviations. However many still do not know what these abbreviations mean. I thought this would be a good time to explain three of the more obscure abbreviations used: LB, MTZ, and GER.
Once there were three major manufacturers of Order of the Arrow insignia. While these three companies did not manufacture every OA item, they certainly were dominant forces in this business. They were responsible for many of the classic issues of our hobby. Flaps produced by each of these companies had distinctive shapes. In some cases more than one of these companies produced very similar emblems for the same lodge. So, an important part of being able to identify some of these older items properly is knowing which company manufactured them. The three companies were Lion Brothers (LB), The Moritz Embroidery Works (MTZ), and the Geer Company (GER).
An explanation of each of thes three shapes follows.
Moritz (MTZ) shaped flaps are characterized by their short vertical sides that curve into long lower diagonals. These flaps have the lowest height to length ratio of the three, resulting in patches that look short or squat. A cursory search of my site turns up 37 lodges that with patches described using the MTZ abbreviation.
Lion Brothers (LB) flaps distinguished by long vertical sides and lower diagonal sides close to the horizontal. This creates most squarish shape of these three manufacturers. This was also the most widespread shape of the three. I was able to find 142 lodges with flaps described by this shape.
Like the work of Lion Brothers, Geer (GER) flaps have long vertical sides. The lower corners are more rounded, though, than Lion Brothers and pitched at a steeper angle resulting in a flap that is definitely not squarish looking. Geer shaped patches have the greatest height to length ratio of the three. These create flaps that look tall in comparision to the other two manufacturers’ work, especially Moritz’s. Geer shaped flaps are the least numerous of these three types. I could only find 17 lodges where this is mentioned as an identifying characteristic.
These numbers are only useful in judging the relative scarcity of each of these flap shapes. Certainly these companies made more flaps than the numbers I list above. Blue Book generally only notes these shapes when it is relevant or helpful in identifying the patches in question. It does not attempt to identify the manufacturer of every item.
Numerous lodges have used two of these manufacturers for their patches. However, two lodges have regularly issued flaps notated as having come from all three: Munsi 444 and Ponus 521. It is noted that Aquehongian 112 has a Geer shaped prototype of their 45th anniversary flap, S9, but that was not issued in that shape.
Of the three, only Lion Brothers is presently a BSA licensee. The Geer Company is no longer in business. Moritz lost their BSA license last Summer as a result of a then pending legal matter.
I hope this helps to demystify these rather cryptic but historically important abbreviations.
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Thank you for spelling “Lion Brothers” properly!
I will also point out that there are a lot of Lion/Moritz/Geer flaps out for which the Blue Book data lacks the manufacturer designation. For example, the Nentico 12 F1 and F2 are Geer flaps, and the F3, S1, S2, and S3 are classic Lion Brothers flaps.
My guess would be that the manufacturer codes were used when necessary to distinguish flaps–as in the Ponus S2/S3, Chimalus F2/F3, and the Munsi F3/F4–especially when the manufacturer code is the easiest way to describe the differences. (In contrast, because the Nentico F2 is cut-edge and the F3 is rolled-edge, no one felt it necessary to add the Geer/Lion codes to the description.)
Additionally worth noting: by the 1980s Lion Brothers was making flaps in shapes other than their traditional template. The Nentico 12 S5 through S8 do not have the “classic” shape but were certainly produced by Lion Brothers.
Finally–I assume you meant Geer were the “least numerous”… but that may be in part because of another characteristic: generally speaking Geer flaps were cut-edge, Lion Brothers flaps were rolled-edge, and Moritz flaps were either rolled-edge or flat rolled-edge (FRE). So the Nentico situation–where the GER/LB codes were not needed to distinguish between the cut-edge F2 and the rolled-edge F3–may mean that the GER distinction is omitted more often than LB or MTZ.
I still believe the Geer’s are least numerous. There would have to be a very large amount of Geer material not so labeled to pass Lion Brothers.
I was deliberately avoiding mention of edge types, for now, as the shapes can be distinguished without getting into that. “Flat rolled edge” might be a topic of a later post. That’s another term a lot of folks have trouble with, and one that can be difficult to explain.
[...] If you have ever wondered about the Blue Book abbrieviations (MTZ, GER, and LB); John Pannell has written a post describing (and showing) these three flap stlyes. Check it out. [...]