Lodge 70: 2009 SR-7B Conclave Flaps
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Tsoiotsi Tsogalii 70 S32?
Tsoiotsi Tsogalii lodge, except for when it is host lodge, can be counted on to issue a single flap for its section conclave delegation. Usually these are produced in fairly large quantities. Even though they are initially limited on Friday night, by the time the extras are sold on Saturday there has usually been an abundant supply of them. The lodge earns a tidy little profit in the process. This year was different.
The lodge decided to issues two flaps with a “Frat Boys” theme. Both had the same design with only the border color differing. One of these was a “pre-registration” flap. This had a blue border and will probably be designated the lodge’s S31. This was made available, one per person, to those who registered for the conclave before a set cut off date. Approximately 220 (a very low number of patches for this lodge) were distributed. No extras were made available. In my opinion, the existence of this item was not as well publicized as it could have been.
The second flap, S32 (pictured), was available for general sale. In past years the lodge used to produced about 1300 conclave flaps. They almost always sold out on Saturday of the event. Avid patch collectors could usually purchase all they wanted, or at least get a good supply. This year only 800 flaps were produced. As a point of comparison, just under 800 were made of the lodge’s S3 in 1997. Those who were registered could get up to three on Friday night. When the extras were sold on Saturday, no brother was able to get more than five additional flaps. So, unlike past years, no one is likely to have a large supply of these.
This seems to signal a change in attitude by the lodge towards patches and trading that I do not like. Traditionally the lodge has issued its items in large quantities, sold them at a reasonable price, and for the most part avoided producing flaps with any restrictions on them other than the size of a brother’s wallet. The patche therefore were common and did not have much value on the secondary market, but youth members were able to readily trade and acquire them. That is now changing. However, I am no longer active in the operation of the lodge, so my opinion ultimately does not matter.
The listing data for these items are as follows:
| Issue | Bdr Color/Type | Bkgd | Name | fdl/BSA | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S31? | BLU | R | M/C | BLK | YEL | fdl; Conclave 2009 |
| S32? | BLK | R | M/C | BLK | YEL | fdl; Conclave 2009 |
| Tsoiotsi Tsogalii 70 page on OAImages.com | ||||||
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John, I have to agree with you on this….If the patches are not there and available at a reasonable price for the youth, patch trading in the lodge will soon die out. These ultra-restricted issues (patch manipulation at it’s finest) has to stop. Maybe the lodges do not want others to have their patches….Are we headed back to the early days AGAIN….let’s hope not. I’ve been there and done that before.
I have to agree with you guys, the information that the lodge issued regarding this flap was insuffiecient. As a trader that has recently had to take some time out from OA events, I hate to now have to try and track down another “rare” lodge isse in the form of the S-31. Also, may I say as Tsoiotsi flaps go, this is by far one of the most hideous patches I have seen in the history of the lodge.
I’ve never liked restricted patches either. It makes collecting hard but I can understand the purpose for it. We have seen it in the Section with both Conclave and NOAC flaps. Usually most of the patches are easy to gain at an event with an exception of one or two. This weekend, it was the blue bordered 70 and the 296 host lodge service flap that they only got one of. It seems like many of times, we like to use patches as recognition for different things and as a motivator. It works, but sometimes I wonder if there are better ways to do it. It makes collecting all the issues from a Lodge difficult.
I was at most of the meetings were the “early registration” patch was discussed and the “secondary market” or the value of the patch was never discussed. The only intention of this patch was to encourage people in the lodge to register for conclave and to register early. Please do not make this sound like a conspiracy to make rare patches, that was not the intent of this patch although it may be an indirect result. Please check your lodge newsletters or subscribe to the “news blasts” from the lodge. I “think” not sure, imformation regarding this patch was communicated in both.
Time to make a confession.
The origin this year’s of April 1st posting came from a conversation with me. I was railing about the nonsense of the contrived rarity, and commented that were I running things, lodges would be required to order flaps in lots of 1000.
This sort of stunt is one of the reasons that I dropped collecting stuff outside of Ashie and Tiwahe. There’s just too much junk out there that is being pawned off as a “super rare” issue that is only super rare because it was limited to left handed red-headed stepsons who were born on a Tuesday during a July snowstorm under a waxing moon while Saturn was in Taurus.
There may be only 50 of them, but crap by any other name is still crap.
Bob and others –
Remember the stated purpose of the rarer patch: to increase attendance at conclave. I suggest the officers of the lodge now need to evaluate that and see if that goal was achieved. My very unscientific observation was that attendance was about what it normally is, so I’d say the patch did not succeed in its stated purpose.
The attendance for lodge 70 was roughly the same as always, around 200 – 225. 197 people registered early and were eligible to receive the “blue bordered” patch according to the registration list I received on April 2.
I am a basically an active member of lodge 70. I knew about the preregistration deadline for the “special border color” but yet did not attend conclave as a delegate from the lodge (simply a day visitor). The purpose was not to increase attendance, but preregistration for the attendance. I am glad the lodge has finally decided to not mass produce patches. What has happened in the past is that the patches sold until the kids ran out of money and then a few collectors buy up the rest (I am guilty of that). A patch for a special event should be for that event. The underlying and historical purpose of these flaps were ‘delegate’ flaps after all. If you have 200 delegates why make 1500+ delegate flaps? The other problem with mass producing flaps in our section is that the smaller lodges like 331 and 296 just can’t afford to make runs of that size and then the mass produced ones don’t trade even for what is essentially a delegate for a delegate. The other point to ponder is, other than lodge finances what is the purpose of making ‘delegate’ flaps anyway?