T O P I C R E V I E W |
Liembo | I haven't been able to confirm this so I am making some assumptions, but could Blue Origin be taking a page from SpaceX and issuing hallmarked patches? These were listed on eBay in the past few weeks from a single seller. They look similar to the official M and NS (1-12) flight test patches but they all have a prominent "x" star motif added. They vary slightly in manufacture from the official version so they're not made from the same runs as those official patches (where SpaceX's are). So either these are hallmarked knock-offs or Blue Origin is producing hallmarked patches for some reason?
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Robert Pearlman | The question that sticks out to me is why would Blue Origin create hallmarked patches for tests or flights that they never offered regular patches for public sale? It wasn't until NS-13 that Blue Origin began producing patches for the public. Before then, all of the (unhallmarked) patches were for employees only (and the occasional VIP or press handout). |
Paul J. Brennan | Anyone try getting a hold of the seller on eBay? Would be curious if they had answers to the questions, or could provide more info. |
Liembo | Seller was uninformative: "from a friend of a friend." |
Paul J. Brennan | Ahh, gotcha'. Well, it remains a mystery for now then.... |
Liembo | From an inquiry I put on the Blue Origin (unofficial) group on Facebook: I have the M1 through M6 patches. They were made by employees for employees because the company wasn't making patches much back then. It's safe to assume all of the x-mark patches are from that group. |
Robert Pearlman | So what is the pedigree of the "M" patches without the hallmark? Are they the official Blue Origin patches, are they runs made by other employees, or are they third-party knock offs? |
Liembo | Another commenter seems to confirm they were produced by an employee for other employees who missed out on the limited run of the official flight test patches. The remakes were for those who didn't get the originals and gave the opportunity for the new employees who weren't there for them to have them as part as there[sic] collection. The differences proves that they werent there for the original but still values their contributions. |
Robert Pearlman | Ah, well that resolves that. Did anyone from that group know why they chose the mark they did? |
Liembo | Well this is weird, apparently the hallmarked versions are official souvenir releases and available on the Blue Origin website. Their lowest shipping price is still pretty horrendous. |
Robert Pearlman | So was the story about these being employee made just made up? Or are the patches now being sold the overruns/leftovers from the employee runs? |
Liembo | Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Two different people subscribed to the idea of employee-origin, but now I have no clue. All I know is that I paid too much for them on eBay now. |