About Patch Design and Manufacturing Continued

The programmer used the design and moves a stylus to create every stitch. Thousands of holes are pinched in the punch pattern that controls each stitch. Colors seem to be specified, Light blue, royal blue, E Green, med brown, dark brown, etc. But the ultimate colors are at the mercy of the person loading the thread. If the operator runs out of light blue they might substitute a medium blue, or instead of E green a medium green etc. This is how varieties sometimes occur within the same loom.

To the left at the top - The background cloth is usually about 6’-8’ tall 10’ to 12’ wide. This area determines how many patches can be made. A paper punched pattern controls the machine. To the Left - A section of an embroidered loom. Patches will be cut out of the large piece of cloth and borders will be applied.

The Major character and facts are these:

Marlin Bates- A Scouting professional, Scout Executive of the Piedmont Council in California in the mid-1970’s through the 1980’s. Piedmont Council was one of the smallest in the USA but well endowed. During his tenure as Scout Executive Marlin Bates made over fifty different CSP’s as well as Lodge 466 OA’s and perhaps activity patches produced for the Piedmont Council This is an important point, it helps explain his relationship with the Leboa Emblem Company. He was a good customer. LeBeau Emblem (Embroidery) Los Angeles, CA. The fakes were made at LeBeau. I don’t believe anyone has ever confirmed this until now. Dave Minnihan told me and I confirmed it with Kelly Williams. Kelly was the owner of Krelman Co (embroidery), he told me he saw samples of the fakes at LeBeau in the 1980’s. I believe this is an important piece of the puzzle. Kelly Williams of Krelman told me the most difficult part of the emblem business is keeping the machines running and your staff operating. This might be why LeBeau would be willing to make 28 looms of patches. In addition the Piedmont Council/Marlin Bates was a good customer. Fifty different CSP issues in a 4-6 year period and perhaps some OA and activity patches it’s possible each loom of CSP’s was more than one loom run. This would amount to a terrific amount of patches and Piedmont/Bates had been a great customer. Great care seems to have been made in getting the details of the fakes correct. This wouldn’t be something an embroidery company would pay much attention to, except for a very good customer. In reviewing the fakes, it struck me that none of them are from California lodges. Is it possible that LeBeau knew what they were doing and refused to potentially damage other customers? As you look at the images you will be shocked at what care was taken to get the details right. I believe that LeBeau was working from real patches, taking the greatest care to get every detail correct.   The financial aspect: Twenty eight looms of patches amounts to about 220 pieces of pocket flaps, about 300 pieces of the rectangular Mishawaka and about 200 pieces of the arrowhead 388 and maybe 300 each of the Jamboree pocket patches. The volume of each patch is dictated by the size of the patch. (thanks Kelly Williams). That’s a LOT of patches, roughly 5500+ pieces, It’s impossible to know the price per patch, some were fully embroidered others weren’t but generally speaking patches in the mid-1970’s cost about .75. 5500 x .75 is about $4000. That’s a lot of money for an Scout Executive in a small council in the mid-1970’s. David Leubitz was editor of the Trader publication in the mid-1970’s. Dave was a Dentist in Akron, Ohio and one of the most aggressive and well known Scout collectors in the country. Dave was the fourth editor of the Trader. I was the previous editor and during my time I began referring to the Trader as an organization. But the facts were that the group only existed because of the Editor. He collected stories and news from individuals and a newsletter was published. The Editor was the organization. This became clear when the Trader was passed to Guy Hatfield and Guy found out how unrewarding being the Editor was, and the Trader folded. Dave Leubitz remained a pillar of the collecting community, although in later years his health and reputation faded. Dave Leubitz as editor of the Trader, received the fakes from Bates and made anyone who complained about receiving a fake, “whole” again, Chris Jensen has letters and correspondence that shows Leubitz did an admirable job in mediating complaints. The threat seems to be that Leubitz would expose Bates and that might ruin his Scouting career. Bates handed over all the remaining fakes as well as his personal OA collection. The personal collection might be a source to replace authentic patches that Bates had traded. Records exist, again thanks Chris Jensen, showing Leubitz gave Bates an accounting of what was being done.   Dave Leubitz was accused of profiting from the sale of the fakes. He (The Trader) sold sets of the fakes for $65. It’s unknown how many sets were sold and as stated earlier sets still remain in the hobby. But 50 sets would be $3250 and perhaps more were sold. The profits from selling the fakes was to refund monies to people that had bought the fakes rather than traded for them. When Guy Hatfield took over the Trader a couple years later there were no funds. Records exist, again thanks Chris Jensen, showing Leubitz gave Bates an accounting of what was being done with the monies. Years later in the 1990’s people decided that perhaps Dave Leubitz wasn’t a good candidate for the Guardian of the Hobby, but looking over the records that have been preserved it appears he acted in a Scout like manner in this situation. Bates must have thought that a threat of exposure would be catastrophic to his career. An accountant in the council could audit the invoices from LeBeau, a discrepancy of $4000 would be easy to uncover. The penalties for the Scout Executive would be most severe.   Later Dave Leubitz sold his OA collection, reportedly one of the best in the country to Topkis/Morley. Afterwards Dave attended TOR’s selling off multiple duplicates with some kind of profit sharing agreement. Years later he sold off his massive collection of non-OA material to Chris Jensen. 7500 merit badge pamphlets, van load after van load of miscellaneous Scouting collectibles and Bates Fakes. Chris reports that there were perhaps 100 of each fake although there were only a handful of the 1953 back patches. Chris sold the fakes at various events for $5 each or the entire set, as long as 1953 Back Patches were available for $100., but Chris is sorry to admit and he greatly regrets that not all were stamped FAKE. In later years, Dave Leubitz had both health and financial difficulties, Roy More was a good friend of Dave’s up until the end. TSPA received a quantity of the Bates Fakes, it’s un known if TSPA stamped them FAKE. In the finally analysis I suspect that many of these fakes came into the collecting community as real issues. This is not a criticism of Streamwood or TSPA, but after they’re sold, people could do with them what they wished.  It appears that Bates was exposed in a relatively short time, perhaps a year or less. It’s impossible to say how many were traded but Gary Gole, (Associate Editor of the Trader) told me they (Leubitz and others) were shocked when the fake patches arrived. There was a huge quantity of them. It is my belief, and it’s just a hunch developed while working on this, that Bates had help with this project. People have described Bates as a mid level OA collector. His first interest seemed to be insignia and memorabilia. With so many of the fakes so excellent I suspect that LeBeau might have worked from a real issue when developing their punch pattern for the fakes. Who ever owned the real issues would have had one of the best collections in the USA. It would impossible for a mid level OA collector to have all these real issues. Upon questioning people that knew Bates, they all seemed to agree that he didn’t have an advanced OA collection. Did a major collector loan him the rare patches? Someone suggested that it appears that most of the real issues were made by National BSA suppliers. Did Bates have contacts at National Supply to obtain these highly restricted issues, if so why make fakes? No one knows, and again please understand I do not believe Leubitz had anything to do with making the fakes. Below is an actual letter to Dave Leubtz from a well known collector who was cheated by Bates. You can see the kind of value that knowledgeable collectors traded for the fakes, thinking they were authentic.

About Collecting in the 1970's and 80's

Its interesting how the Bates fakes were discovered so quickly. In the modern age we have the internet, Facebook, etc. but there is very little information about the hobby. I got on Facebook because I thought I might see something on patches. Instead I learn of good restaurants in Texas and good brew pubs in Alabama. I see photos of grand children and I get to wish people Happy Birthday. Friends send information on their sports teams, their comedy favorites and their political views. I just don’t see much information about patches. Maybe I’m on the wrong website. In the 70’s and ‘80’s collectors had friends. In many cases we were Scouts together and grew up together. Pat Laird from Texas visited me when he was in Podiatrist school in Illinois., I visited him in California. Same with Dave Leubitz, Bob Sherman, Bob Cylkowski, Dennis Sydlowski, Guy Hatfield, the Podelwils and dozens of others. I carried on an active correspondence with maybe fifty collectors, O’Connor and Minnihan in California. Conley Williams, Lou Carter, Pappy Renniger in Texas, and others. When something happened in collecting there would be phone calls. You had to pay for phone calls and I remember my phone bills were often too high. But it was so much fun, we were talking about patches. When someone got a great patch the word got around fast. When several people got a great patch from the same source, alarms went off. Marlin Bates mis-judged the closeness of the collecting community. I suspect its easier to pass fakes in the modern age, fewer collectors actually know or talk to each other.

About Restrictions

One thing that nearly all of these fakes have in common is that at the time they were issued they all were highly restricted. 1/Life or 1 at Ordeal, Brotherhood, Vigil. In addition to restrictions some lodges added additional caveats such as no trading. In 1975-76 only very advanced, (aggressive), collectors would have owned these patches. These were the most sought after patches in that era. Today, OA lodges are almost fund raising arms of the local council. Patches are churned out in an endless stream for every conceivable event or purpose. Each patch returning the lodge/council a couple dollars profit. During the 1970’s and early 80’s lodges hadn’t thought of the fund raising aspect and many lodges were difficult for collectors to obtain.   Besides the restrictions, some lodges only sold the patches at lodge events. The Lodge Treasurer controlled the patches and they were not available in Scout offices. These lodges just didn’t want collectors to have one of their patches.

Final Words

The story of fakes and fakers and profiting from patches is a sad one and in many ways an indictment on our hobby. Trading in brotherhood has been replaced with rampant greed and in some cases, screw your neighbor. The Bakes Fakes are literally just the tip of the iceberg. I suspect that a high percentage of advanced collectors have several Bates fakes in their collections, believing they are real. Having enjoyed this hobby for a lifetime, it’s disheartening. OA issues seem to be the most faked, it’s one reason that I personally only collect First Flaps. But, I wouldn’t trade my experiences in patch collecting for any other hobby. It’s not the patches, it’s the hundreds of friends that I’ve collected. In researching this I was delighted at the efforts to assist from so many dear and true friends. Paul Myers

Paul Myers Goshen, Indiana gimogash@comcast.net