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  STS-41C/Challenger: STS-13 "Black Cat" patch

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Author Topic:   STS-41C/Challenger: STS-13 "Black Cat" patch
firebud1
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posted 07-26-2003 08:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for firebud1   Click Here to Email firebud1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Can anyone tell how many STS-13 black cat patches were produced?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 07-26-2003 08:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From spacepatches.nl:
Apparently, the patch was extremely exclusive, George Nelson has stated that he understood that less than twenty of these patches have been manufactured.

Text: Jacques van Oene and Bert Vis, Spaceflight Magazine, March 1999

hoorenz
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posted 08-04-2003 05:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for hoorenz   Click Here to Email hoorenz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The souvenir version was done by Randy Hunt and has a grey instead of a green background. Also, the protruding part of the shuttle's path is missing.

Kevin T. Randall
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posted 07-23-2011 12:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kevin T. Randall   Click Here to Email Kevin T. Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is another one of the 20 original STS-13 (STS-41C) shuttle patches:

I know of only two sales of this patch in the last five years, one on eBay, lot No. 220295325666 sold for $610 with 13 bids from 5 bidders on 19th October 2008.

The other was a direct sale from Don Willis on his Lunar Legacies website a year later in October 2009 when it sold for $795.

If anyone knows of any more, post it here.

hoorenz
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posted 07-23-2011 01:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for hoorenz   Click Here to Email hoorenz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I no longer believe only 20 were produced. I have seen 3 to 5 in the possession of people, and some 5 or so for sale the past 15 years.

Then we have the patches for the crew, the one that was on board, patches handed out as a gift to other astronauts and management...

Kevin T. Randall
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posted 07-23-2011 01:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kevin T. Randall   Click Here to Email Kevin T. Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Probably it was a minimum batch of 50 patches made at the time Erik?

How ever many it's still a very rare patch.

benguttery
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From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
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posted 07-23-2011 01:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for benguttery   Click Here to Email benguttery     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I guess 50 were made. They are out there. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation auctioned one a few years ago. I think it was a 1984 Maggots class patch and the STS-13 patch which I think sold for all of $200.

See if you think this one is different.

The only thing uglier than this patch is its reproduction.

UPDATE: I posted a few more images of the STS-13 patch in flickr.

Kevin T. Randall
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posted 11-03-2011 12:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kevin T. Randall   Click Here to Email Kevin T. Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
One of these STS-13 'Black Cat' patches has been listed on eBay, it is part of a presentation piece with an 8x10" signed photo of Terry J. Hart, an AB Emblem 4" STS-41C mission patch, an 8x10" launch photo, and a NASA 'Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center' business card.

On closer inspection this is one of the original 50 patches, but it has a shorter prominent shuttle vapor trail just above the black cat's head. Now whether this is a variant or part of this prominence is missing, (cut off), or folded back, I'm not sure at this stage.

According to the description it originated from an estate sale.

Kevin T. Randall
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From: Chesham, Bucks UK
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posted 11-10-2011 03:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kevin T. Randall   Click Here to Email Kevin T. Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This presentation piece finally sold for $380 with 18 bids from 7 bidders.

I would of thought is item would of fetched a lot more knowing how rare the STS-13 'Black Cat' patch is, and has sold for in the recent past? But then there was a small piece missing, and we are in a recession.

Liembo
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From: Bothell, WA
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posted 03-21-2015 02:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Liembo   Click Here to Email Liembo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Would someone with an actual Black Cat patch be able to send me a photograph/scan of the patch on a piece of graph paper? I'm going to see what it will take to get a high fidelity reproduction made.

Liembo
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From: Bothell, WA
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posted 05-07-2015 01:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Liembo   Click Here to Email Liembo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great news! I have the approval from the Scobee family to reproduce the "Black Cat" patch. I will set up a Kickstarter for this patch that will also include the two-piece STS-61E replica.

Update: See here for details.

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