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Author
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Topic: Rarity of space patches found at a car boot?
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vettahead
New Member Posts: 8
From: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-10-2015 03:14 PM
   
Hi all, my name's Chris, may I say what a lovely place you guys have here and very informative!First of all I must admit to not being a collector of anything space related usually but I was out and about on Sunday and by chance we went to a church car boot (a swap meet I think in American lingo?). I came across four Apollo space mission patches (13, 14, 15, 16) and one other (I'll come to that in a bit, all with National Air and Space Museum cards with them. I thought they would look great sewn onto some t-shirts so I bought them of the lovely old chap selling them. I paid 5 pounds for the lot. Upon my return home I put them in my drawer and forgot about then. Until this morning! For some reason I started googling them. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that following your advice and links they (to my eyes) look like Lion Brothers patches and are worth a little bit of money! This has dashed my plans of making cool t-shirts out of them (I may still do it though!) but here's the snippet I've left out... there was one more. It's an Approach and Landing Test one, again a Lion Brothers but what I can tell and has the vacuum sealed back (I think). Now if it is, is this as rare as I've read (only spent an hour reading up) if so.... whacking it on a t-shirt is waaay out the question. Here are some high resolution photos I snapped. I've uploaded them to my site (link updated) so you can see the full size versions if needed. Thanks for looking.  |
Panther494
Member Posts: 402
From: London UK
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 04-10-2015 05:22 PM
Well what a great find, especially for £5. You're correct in thinking they are Lion Brothers patches. The ALT patch certainly appears to be the coated back version. Please don't put them on a tee shirt. Sorry, I'm a patch collector, as well as lots of other space related stuff, so that's just my collector's head sounding off... You could always start a small collection of Apollo patches. You never know you may start to enjoy it.. Ask the members here!! |
vettahead
New Member Posts: 8
From: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-10-2015 05:26 PM
Thanks for looking mate I think I'll hold on to all of them bar the ALT one. I'm thinking there may be some collector out there that would like that in his/her collection. I'm thinking of framing them and getting some replicas for the t-shirt idea. I really like the idea of it! Are the Smithsonian boards worth anything to anyone? Can't imagine I'll need them (besides the one for the ALT). |
Panther494
Member Posts: 402
From: London UK
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 04-10-2015 05:48 PM
No problem. If you really think you want to sell the ALT patch, may I suggest using the Buy, Sell, Trade section here. I've dealt with members here and always had great service. I still think you should collect all the Lion Brothers patches though. |
vettahead
New Member Posts: 8
From: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-10-2015 05:59 PM
Where do I go to price it? Having trouble finding a comparison? |
Panther494
Member Posts: 402
From: London UK
Registered: Jan 2013
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posted 04-10-2015 06:54 PM
The holy grail for patch collectors.crewpatches.com — Excellent site with lots of information covering history, manufacturing methods, patch variants, estimated values and run by a great guy Chris, who's a member here too. |
vettahead
New Member Posts: 8
From: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-11-2015 01:16 AM
Holy grail? Really? What a great little find!! I've sent him an email, let's see what he thinks.  |
Kevin T. Randall
Member Posts: 1082
From: Chesham, Bucks UK
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 04-11-2015 08:22 AM
Chris, yes a very nice find finding those Lion Brothers Apollo and ALT patches, especially if they are still stapled to their original Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum sales cards.
*[None of the patches are stapled to the sales cards].It's a pity the sales cards aren't in a slightly better condition. The more creases, pen marks and stains they have on them the less they are collectable. But saying that the patches themselves look in good condition. It looks like the ALT patch is 100% Lion Brothers with the rarer vacuum sealed backing. Though I've not seen one with a red hue to a part of the vacuum sealed backing. Again it is a pity it is not still stapled to it's original sales card. I've only ever seen a few examples that are. The potential value of the Lion Brothers ALT patches has come down from the $350+ (£250+) mark two to three years ago, to about $90 (£65) to-day. (One is currently listed on eBay for that amount as a Buy It Now, with a 'Best Offer' accepted for it as well). That seller has probably sold around about a dozen examples of the bare cloth backed version in the past year or so. The vacuum sealed version is a much harder one to find, and could be worth a fair amount more to a Lion Brothers patch collector. Your best option is to list it on eBay with a low start price of say around $50 and see were it goes. |
vettahead
New Member Posts: 8
From: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-12-2015 02:22 AM
Thanks everyone! I've popped it on eBay if anyone's interested. |
Kevin T. Randall
Member Posts: 1082
From: Chesham, Bucks UK
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted 04-12-2015 03:33 AM
Lot #161670281934 on eBay.co.uk with a starting price of £60.00 ($87.92). |
crash
Member Posts: 318
From: West Sussex, England
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 04-12-2015 04:11 AM
UK post only? That could be a mistake as there is a huge number of collectors overseas, especially in the U.S. and Canada. I would add both of those to the accepted countries list if it was my listing.Have you spotted the Space Lectures threads? Well worth a look especially as they take place in a location not too far from you. You may wish to ignore the county though. Good luck and welcome to the site. |
vettahead
New Member Posts: 8
From: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-12-2015 04:23 AM
I've amended the listing. It's now international. Thought I'd already done it but I hadn't accepted the terms apparently.Thanks for the link, I'll check that now. Ideally I'd like this to go to some one who appreciates it like someone here. |
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