A/B patch found on a recent road trip

[Garth Thompson]

Found this little guy on a recent road trip. It looks to have been removed from a uniform jacket. Made of very high quality wool with a cotton base material.
Garth

[Garth Thompson]

Reverse view.

[historyguy]

NICE find!!! Someone else needs to comment on period/place of manufacture, as I'm not too familiar with WWII patches, but the last one of these I saw sold for $3,749.99.
The one I saw was of slightly different construction.

[Garth Thompson]

NICE find!!! Someone else needs to comment on period/place of manufacture, as I'm not too familiar with WWII patches, but the last one of these I saw sold for $3,749.99.
The one I saw was of slightly different construction.

Thanks for the comment. Personally I think anyone that spends almost 4K on a patch needs to take a serious look at their life but that's only a personal opinion.
Garth

[Allan H.]

NICE find!!! Someone else needs to comment on period/place of manufacture, as I'm not too familiar with WWII patches, but the last one of these I saw sold for $3,749.99.
The one I saw was of slightly different construction.

This patch is unfortunately a reproduction. As Historyguy said: "the one I saw was of slightly different construction." As there were only 100 of these patches ever made, and they were all made at the same time, there is NO variation in their manufacture. As most of these patches disappeared, it is truly one of the rarest of World War II patches.

The patches were made by a Sporting Goods supply business in Detroit, Michigan and 100 were made. The patches were shipped to Europe inside a metal cookie tin and the tin was opened just prior to the 463rd's alert that the German Ardennes Offensive had begun. It is not known how many men in the unit took one of these patches, but it is known that the man to whom the patches were mailed did NOT get one himself!
If you consider the number of men in the 463rd who were Killed in the Bulge, and the number of men who would have lost their patches in combat, and the number of men who lost their patches in the 60 years since the end of World War II, you can see just how rare that patch is.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Allan

[Garth Thompson]

Couldn't help but notice the one pictured on the Bando site is differant than either of the patches in this post.

Garth

[Allan H.]

Garth,
The one that Historyguy posted looks to be the correct construction with chain stitching on the parachute and Bugs' body. I will e-mail Bando and ask him for a good photo of his patch as it comes with veteran's provenance and is undoubtedly original.
Allan

Couldn't help but notice the one pictured on the Bando site is differant than either of the patches in this post.

Garth

[Mark S.]

curious question: Is that patch a reproduction in the terms "meant to deceive" or a reproduction in the context that it isnt one of the original lot 100, but made for the veterans of this regiment at a later date?

Do you know if there there any made later, for the veterans?

[Allan H.]

Mark,
To me, this patch looks like one of the multitude of "Tackett" made fakes. My understanding is that there was (and probably still is) a fellow out in California who would make any patch you wanted and would sell them for a pretty reasonable fee. The problem was that he fell in with sharks who were keeping him busy and selling his wares as original for considerable profits.
I would assume that if this were a reunion piece, then it would have been machine embroidered and we'd have seen a few surface over the years.
Allan

curious question: Is that patch a reproduction in the terms "meant to deceive" or a reproduction in the context that it isnt one of the original lot 100, but made for the veterans of this regiment at a later date?

Do you know if there there any made later, for the veterans?

[eindecker2]

I almost hate to ask, but what does bugs have in his right hand?

[Brian Dentino]

I hate to ask too............but it sure looks like........

I do notice some differences in the patches, but still they are pretty cool IMO.

[Allan H.]

Bugs holds a carrot in his left hand and a brown hammer in his right.
Brian, you have a dirty mind and should be spanked!

I hate to ask too............but it sure looks like........

I do notice some differences in the patches, but still they are pretty cool IMO.

[Anthony Grisanti]

Allan

I don't have hammer one in my toolbox that looks like that...

[Steve Sherlock]

The bwoun ting dat silwwy wabbit is hoding sure doesn't wook wike a bwoun cawwot or a bwoun hammea.

Elmer

[WalterB]

Man, you guys cracked me up for 5 minutes non-stop. That "hammer" is indeed: It definitely puts a new meaning to "What's up, Doc?"