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Author
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Topic: Availability of NASA astronaut class patches
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dogcrew5369
Member Posts: 750
From: Statesville, NC
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 04-01-2009 10:45 PM
   
Why are astronaut class patches not available? I think they are among the most important outside of mission patches, yet they seem to be completely off the collecting radar. Are these patches even available to the public? |
benguttery
Member Posts: 547
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 04-02-2009 08:41 AM
They are indeed very difficult to find and acquire. I may have one or two originals and the rest are reproductions. I negotiated on and off without success with a fellow who bought two at an astronaut benefit or scholarship auction who wasn't really that interested in them. He got interested when collectors starting offering some big bucks for them. If you think about the small size of the astronaut classes, there just aren't many of these made. Perhaps a few hundred patches. They are indeed neat and just about as hard to find as Gemini mission patches. Maybe our friend Chris Spain will build a site for astronaut class patches (hint, hint). |
spaced out
Member Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 04-02-2009 09:04 AM
More a topic for Jacques and Luc at SpacePatches.nl I would have thought, since they provide very comprehensive coverage of patches up to the present day. |
dogcrew5369
Member Posts: 750
From: Statesville, NC
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 04-03-2009 10:37 PM
quote:
Originally posted by benguttery:
If you think about the small size of the astronaut classes, there just aren't many of these made.
What I get from your statement is that the supplier only made class patches for the astronauts and not for the public. Bummer. |
Bill Hunt
Member Posts: 399
From: Irvine, CA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 04-05-2009 12:31 PM
Yes, these are only made for the astronauts themselves. It wasn't easy, but over time I've been able to find most of them as originals. I'm missing only four I think. Patience far more than anything else is what's required. Oddly, the toughest part has been confirming them as originals vs. replicas, which are numerous. |
Jacques van Oene
Member Posts: 861
From: Houten, The Netherlands
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 04-06-2009 08:34 AM
We are working on pages for these ascan patches, so they will come soon.As Bill said, these patches are hard to find. and there are a lot of souvenir patches around. So you have to know what is real and what is "fake." But I have a lot of original ascan patches and the differences between them will be placed on spacepatches.nl soon! |
hoorenz
Member Posts: 1031
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 04-06-2009 10:28 AM
I have 78, 80, 84, 92 and 95. |
Bill Hunt
Member Posts: 399
From: Irvine, CA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 04-06-2009 09:14 PM
Here's the list of what I have: - 1978 - Original
- 1980 - Original
- 1984 - Original
- 1984 Maggots - Original
- 1985 - Original
- 1985 Black Thorne - Original
- 1987 - Original and Replica
- 1990 - Replica
- 1990 Hairballs - Replica
- 1992 - Original and Replica
- 1992 Hogs - Replica
- 1995 - Original and Replica
- 1995 Flying Escargots - Unknown, likely Replica (was there EVER an original?)
- 1996 - Original and Replica
- 1996 Sardines - Unknown
- 1998 - Original
- 2000 - Original
- 2004 - Original AND Replica
So I need 1990, the 1990 Hairballs and the 1992 Hogs, and I'm not sure about the vintage of the Escargot and Sardines patches I have. I suspect both are replicas, but I don't know if actual originals exist or just replicas based on original artwork. |
dogcrew5369
Member Posts: 750
From: Statesville, NC
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 04-08-2009 10:39 PM
I would love to see commemorative class patches maybe around 8" (or 6" for a small class) that lists the ascans from each class similar to the MOL, Apollo or X-15 commemorative patches. Maybe just start out with the first several shuttle classes or even go back to the beginning. |
Voyager1975
Member Posts: 188
From:
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 05-11-2009 10:39 AM
Where did the replica astronaut class patches come from? I know AB Emblem does not make them. |
hoorenz
Member Posts: 1031
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 05-11-2009 03:15 PM
Most of the replicas were done by Eagle One Aerospace (Randy Wagner). |
BMckay
Member Posts: 3225
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 02-11-2011 09:05 PM
Just wondering about the availability of the astronaut class patches. Which ones are the hardest to find?Editor's note: Threads merged. |
Go4Launch
Member Posts: 542
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 02-12-2011 06:34 PM
My guess is that they get increasing scarce the father back you go, but it's only a guess. I'd tend to rank them with moat of the original Gemini crew patches. |
j0s9
Member Posts: 140
From: Clinton, MA, USA
Registered: Oct 2009
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posted 02-13-2011 02:09 AM
I'm sure you can still find some astronaut class patches on eBay. Last year I found two vintage versions. |
Liembo
Member Posts: 584
From: Bothell, WA
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 09-10-2014 09:12 PM
Is there a site with definitive scans of the official patches? Or, for bonus points, on that also identifies the replicas? I would gladly add them to the Space Patch Database if I had access to some scans. |
GoesTo11
Member Posts: 1309
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 09-10-2014 10:45 PM
Best source I know of is the Spacefacts.de Selection Group page. |
Liembo
Member Posts: 584
From: Bothell, WA
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 09-11-2014 12:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by GoesTo11:
Spacefacts.de Selection Group page
It's a bit hit and miss. There's some high-resolution artwork for some of the candidate class patches, but no attribution as to the source (A-B, Eagle One, etc) and others are merely the line art work. Thank you for the tip though. |
hoorenz
Member Posts: 1031
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 09-15-2014 02:44 AM
This Flickr set contains a couple of scans of original Astronaut Class patches. |
BMckay
Member Posts: 3225
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 11-29-2019 03:14 PM
For the Sardines (Class 16, 1996) patch, check out Etsy. |
Paul J. Brennan
Member Posts: 98
From: Linden, CA
Registered: May 2019
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posted 11-29-2019 04:37 PM
Good catch! |
BMckay
Member Posts: 3225
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 12-19-2019 10:46 AM
Just received mine. They are well done and made by AB and I think in America. Signed on back by Herrington. Well worth the cost. |
thisismills
Member Posts: 265
From: Michigan
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 12-24-2019 08:16 AM
A very nice patch indeed, perfect timing for Christmas. 
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MajTom7
Member Posts: 36
From: McDonough, GA, USA
Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 12-24-2019 07:43 PM
Is the Sardines humorous patch a fully embroidered 4" patch? It bears the same number (414285) as the patches I had made in October 2019. A-B marked those 10/19 01, Made in China.  
I produced them when Duane Carey, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, and Dan Tani all told me that the group made only 3" stickers. I sent four of those patches to Dr. Herrington who came up with the general design. (Dan Tani contributed the phrase "Packed With Pride.") Dr. Herrington apparently had another run produced in America based on the 12/19 20. By the way, thank you for the compliments. I put a lot of time, effort, and money in working with A-B to get the dimensions right; the type enlarged and enhanced; and we went through multiple proofs to get the colors true. (At one point I was comparing thread numbers and colors.) I wanted this patch to be as perfect as possible before sending it to any Group 16 astronaut. Clearly I succeeded. |
BMckay
Member Posts: 3225
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 01-01-2020 08:11 PM
Have people been buying these? Too high of a price? |
thisismills
Member Posts: 265
From: Michigan
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 01-01-2020 08:25 PM
To answer the above question, yes, the Sardines patch is a 4" diameter and fully embroidered. Thank you for providing the history behind it! |
MajTom7
Member Posts: 36
From: McDonough, GA, USA
Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 01-01-2020 09:23 PM
Dr. Herrington's Etsy site shows 19 sales. There's no breakdown between the four items available. So someone is buying something since November.Thank you for confirming what I thought based on the design number. I attended the same adult weekend Space Camp in 1991 as Sandy Magnus. Years later, that sparked my interest in the Sardines. I mailed letters to the domestic Sardines in 2019, hoping to get high res pictures of their patches. Digger Carey provided those which gave me a starting point to produce the humorous patch; Dan Tani gave me the history. |
Paul J. Brennan
Member Posts: 98
From: Linden, CA
Registered: May 2019
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posted 01-01-2020 11:16 PM
First off, thank you MajTom7 for your work designing these patches! I purchased one of the unsigned patches from Mr. Herrington. As of about a week and a half ago he had both the signed and unsigned versions available, with the unsigned version selling for $15.00. Mine does not have any AB Emblem markings on the back of the patch. |
MajTom7
Member Posts: 36
From: McDonough, GA, USA
Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 01-02-2020 05:40 AM
He might be taking the A-B stickers off.By the way, I learned about the A-B Emblem patch stickers while doing this. The top number is a unique design number. What looks like a date on the bottom left is just that, production month and year. The numbers on the bottom right are production location. |
Kevin T. Randall
Member Posts: 1084
From: Chesham, Bucks UK
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 01-02-2020 10:33 AM
To take off (remove) the embedded label would damage the plastic coating on the back of the patch, as the labels are normally under that plastic coating covering the patch back. Or more likely the embedded label was not attached to the patch, or it fell off before the plastic coating was applied? I have come across packs of ten patches where most had embedded labels on them, but one or possibly two were without labels, and have undamaged plastic backing. Some of the prototype/sample patches have labels which are just stuck on top of the plastic coatings. Some date codes are month/day and are found on the prototype/sample patches and usually end in "55" or are "short" date codes of just three or four numerals and one "/". Yes, as from December 2017 the "country of manufacture" code numbers are as follows; - 10 = Taiwan
- 20 = USA, Weaverville
- 30 = Mexico
- 40 = China, production run patches
- 01 = China, special commission or special contract patches
- 55 = USA, prototype or sample patches
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Paul J. Brennan
Member Posts: 98
From: Linden, CA
Registered: May 2019
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posted 01-02-2020 11:13 AM
Thank you gentlemen. MajTom7, I might have thought that your theory about the stickers being removed would be correct, except that the signed one that thisismills recently received still had the sticker on it. Kevin, I think your theory about the sticker falling off or not being applied at all is probably a better fit for what happened to the AB Emblem sticker. The others that have been recently received appear not to have been embedded, but just stuck on the back. |
MajTom7
Member Posts: 36
From: McDonough, GA, USA
Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 01-02-2020 11:38 AM
Thanks, Kevin for the location information, and I see now what you're saying about the sticker being under the coating. |
Kevin T. Randall
Member Posts: 1084
From: Chesham, Bucks UK
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 01-02-2020 11:38 AM
I bought two of the ASCAN Group XVI Sardines patches direct from Herrington through Etsy, both have the embedded labels under the plastic coatings. Both embedded labels have 414285 A-B Emblem 12/19 20 on them. Both have the labels rotated about 145 degrees like the one shown above. One patch is signed across the bottom quarter, again as shown above. |
Dave_Johnson
Member Posts: 109
From:
Registered: Feb 2014
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posted 01-03-2020 12:03 AM
quote:
Originally posted by MajTom7:
Dr. Herrington's Etsy site shows 19 sales. There's no breakdown between the four items available. So someone is buying something since November.
As of this time, there are 22 sales - 11 signed patches, 6 unsigned patches, 4 signed T-shirts (3 adults, 1 child), and 1 STS-113 patch (showing as not available now). |
MajTom7
Member Posts: 36
From: McDonough, GA, USA
Registered: Aug 2011
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posted 01-03-2020 06:38 AM
Thanks, Dave. I see now where that information is available. |
Dave_Johnson
Member Posts: 109
From:
Registered: Feb 2014
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posted 01-03-2020 09:29 PM
You're welcome! |
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