Boy Scout Order of the Arrow Patch – Vintage – Rare

An auction recently ended on eBay with the title Boy Scout Order of the Arrow Patch – Vintage – Rare.  Indeed it was, and it went for what seems a pretty cheap price for the issue in that condition.

The issues in question turned out to be the Sisilija R1.

While the description included:Up for auction is a felt – Order of the Arrow Patch from SISILIJA LODGE NO.19 SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK.

I do not know if it is used or not. But I dont think so. I can not find any stiching marks.

One bidder or potential bidder asked the right question.

Q: Hello – Could you measure in mm, the arrowhead on this patch??? Is ist 40 x 32 mm?? Many thanks Dec-11-08
A: The red arrow head on the patch is 3.2cm or 32mm at the widest part, and 4 cm or 40mm top to bottom. Thank you for asking.

Here is the R2:

The Blue Book describes them as follows:

R1 RED WHT RED SSC felt; 40×32 mm arrowhead; arrow points between L&O in “LODGE”; WAB
R2 RED WHT RED SSC; felt; 32×27 mm arrowhead; arrow points at O in “LODGE”

If you check out the auction, you can see the arrow points between the L & O and the seller has confirmed the size of the arrowhead.

The auction started at $ 3.99 and finished at over $ 580.00.  There were 4 separate bidders over $ 400.00

But should it have gone higher?  The Tracker software shows two sales for over $1000 each for the R1.  John does not record a sale on his site.  The R2 generally sells in the $ 25-50 range.

So is this ending price reflective of current market conditions or did the seller miss out on some potential profit by not accurately identifying the issue?

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There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential points, exactly like a small mob.

G. K. Chesterton, “Heretics”, 1905
English author & mystery novelist (1874 – 1936)