Croatan 117 S76?

Croatan lodge hosted the 2010 SR-7B Conclave last April.       They followed what is becoming a normal custom for host lodges in this section and issued several pieces.     In addition to the three host lodge flaps,   the lodge also issued a host lodge   arrowhead following the lodge’s traditional arrowhead design.

A fourth flap also appeared, not strictly a conclave flap.         This was based upon the lodge’s traditional flap design, rendered all in white except for the lodge totem and name.     Thanks to Wesley Drennan for the images of these issues.

Listings for these issues are as follows:

Croatan 117 S73?

Croatan has issued an unusually large number (for them) of flaps lately.     Earlier this Spring they issued a set of “Pirate Nation” flaps.   These are being sold to support the 2010 National Jamboree contingent.   Thanks to Wesley Drennan and Greg Grimes for images of these issues.

Each of these features the East Carolina University pirate in front of what appears to be a football stadium.   Note the inclusion of the registered trademark symbol, ®, on the pirate’s hat.     Three flaps were issued:   a black (BLK) border (S72?), purple (PUR) border (S73?), and a gold mylar (GMY) border version (S74?).       I expect these will be a hit with traders, especially those who like pirates or collect sports related OA issues.

Listing data for these flaps are as follows:

Croatan 117 eS2009-1?

Since the National OA Committee clarified its policy regarding the use of separate flaps by “honor”, many lodges have dropped their use of Ordeal/Brotherhood/Vigil (OBV) flaps to be in compliance with this dictate.   Croatan lodge was one of them.   They previously had Brotherhood and Vigil service flaps along with an unrestricted trading flap. However, Croatan gave one last nod to tradition with the three flaps they issued for their 2009 Fall Fellowship.     Thanks to Wesley Drennan for these images.

All three flaps use design used by the lodge for its standard flaps for over 40 years.       The “Ordeal” flap had a red mylar (RMY) border.   The “Brotherhood”   and “Vigil” flaps used the traditional gold mylar (GMY) and silver mylar (SMY) border colors.   As these patches specifically name an event, they will be listed on this site as events issues.

Listing data for these are as follows:

Croatan 117 S71?

I recently wrote about a two part set Croatan lodge issued for NOAC.     Greg Grimes now tells me the lodge also issued a restricted flap for its NOAC delegates.     This flap continues the Three Musketeers and “The Power of One” themes.       D’Artagnan is apparently featured here.     This issue also continues a recent tradition and incorporates the initials of the current lodge chief into its design.

A few words are needed about the colors used on this patch.

There is a lot of mylar thread used here.     The border is purple mylar.     The background is violet mylar.     There currently are not any standard abbreviations for these colors.   The usual way of abbreviating these color may not work for purple mylar as PMY could indicate either purple or pink (it will happen, if it hasn’t already appeared!).   I suggest following the precedent established with GRM being labeled as green mylar.     I suggest PUM for purple mylar and VMY for the violent mylar.

The listing data for this flap are as follows:

Croatan 117 S70?+X9?

All for one, and one for all!     Croatan lodge latched onto the conference theme of “The Power of One” in their own way and paid tribute to the Three Musketeers on their 2009 NOAC set.     Anthropomorphized deer replace Athos, Porthos and Aramis.     A carriage, also drawn by a deer appears on the road to Indiana University, the location of this conference.

I do not know if the lodge issued any additional pieces.     I heard rumors of a delegate set but cannot confirm that.

The listing data for these patches are as follows:

Croatan 117 S46b? and S47b?

I was first made aware of these at last April’s SR-7B conclave.     These got lost in the shuffle with the rush of posts on new issues.     Thanks to Larry Banks for sending the scans used here.

Last year Croatan needed an additional supply of their Brotherhood and Vigil service flaps, S46 and S47.     Instead of using the previous manufacturer, they had the flaps produced through the BSA supply division.   The new flaps came back with the BSA Scout Stuff logo as part of the plastic backing.     See the image at the top of this post.     Previous copies of these issues had a plain plastic backs.

Croatan 117 S46b? and S47b? (frontside)

Some might pick out some differences with the faces of these flaps.     However, I believe the differences are neither significant enough nor easily describable enough to mention in any listing.     The most obvious difference is the backing of this patch.

I believe this significant enough to warrant being listed as separate varieties of the s46 and S47.     I propose the following listing changes:

Croatan 117 ZA5?

I was recently reminded of an unauthorized arrowhead shaped patch from Croatan. This piece looks familiar to me and I had thought I covered it here months ago. Apparently I did not.

This is a rather poor copy of Croatan’s early arrowhead patches.     Most obviously the colors are wrong.     None of the arrowheads issued by the lodge were on white twill or had a brown border.     The embroidery of the deer is also also   a poor copy of the deers used on authentic patches

The listing data for this issue should be as follow:

 I could comment further in the listing data about the deer, that it is crudely embroidered and appears to have large ears instead of antlers.   However, mention of the brown cut edge border and white twill is enough to identify this patch.

Croatan 117 J6?

At the SR-7B Conclave a couple of weeks ago two new cook crew patches from Croatan lodge were spotted.       Thanks to Greg Grimes and Larry Banks for sending along these images.

One of these patches, pictured was issued for cook crew’s 30th anniversary.     I have tentatively listed this as J6?     The design features the lodge’s deer totem superimposed upon the central portion of North Carolina’s state flag.

The second patch features a more humorous theme.     This patch, labeled as J7?, features a deer in an apron tending to a cauldron.     A human head can be seen peeking out of the cauldron.

The listing data for these two issues are as follows:

I don’t see a fleur d’lis on the “J7?”. Am I missing something here?

Croatan 117 S69?

Croatan lodge adopted a Christmas theme for this year’s SR-7B conclave.     Two patches — a flap and a rectangular “dangle” — were issued with this theme.     I don’t remember the exact quantities made, but I was told there were significantly fewer of the odd-shape than the flap.

The flap pictures a Christmas Eve scene.     Across the top of the flap, “ghosted” into the background is written “Christmas at Croatan”.         The dangle features Santa Claus bearing a bag of gifts.     The phrase “Croatan 2010″ acknowledges this lodge as the host for the 2010 SR-7B conclave.   Following recent practice, the initials of the lodge chief are hidden in the designs of both patches.

The listing data for these two issues are as follows:

Croatan 117 N4?

Larry Banks just recently sent an image of yet another North Carolina section conclave delegate piece that had not been previously listed in Blue Book or this site.

This piece is a silk screened neckerchief issued by Croatan 117 for its delegates to the 1985 SE-7 Conclave. The neckerchief has a rather simple design including the lodge’s deer totem and the conclave theme.   It appears to be rendered in black, silk screened on a white neckerchief.

The listing data for this item is as follows:

Croatan 117 eR2008?

Croatan lodge recently issued a patch for this year’s Fall Fellowship.     This has the a similar design to the anniversary flap I previously mentioned on this blog.   As far as I know this is the only event patch the lodge has issued this year.

Thanks to Greg Grimes for supplying the images of both these recent issues.

The listing data for this issue are as follows:

Croatan 117 S68?

Croatan recently celebrated its 70th anniversary with the issuance of a new lodge flap.     There was also a activity patch for their recent Fall Fellowship with a similar design that I will highlight in a later post.     Thanks to Greg Grimes for the images of both pieces.

The design is rather simple.     It features a representation of the lodge’s traditional totem used on their early arrowhead patches.   There is a large 70 to denote the anniversary.

It does not denote any connection to lodge 70!     I’m just waiting for someone not very knowledgeable to try to list this on eBay as a lodge 70 issue.

The listing data for this issue are as follows:

Brett Warner has recently acquired what he believes is a fake of the 2007 Conclave flap from Croatan 117.     There are several noticeable differences between the likely fake and known authentic copies of this flap.

The backsides of both flaps are pictured at the top of this post as all the most obvious differences can be spotted from the back.

First, the known authentic flap has a plastic back with a gold sticker that reads, “Certified by Croatan 117.”     The flap I will call a fake has a cloth back and no authenticity sticker.

The two flaps are also significantly different in size.     See images to the left and right of this paragraph.   The authentic flap is smaller, measuring about 112mm across.     The fake measures about 120 mm across.

There are also differences in the colors however these are harder to notice unless one has copies of both flaps.           The sky on the real flap is lighter, almost a light turquoise, than on the fake.     The shades of green used in the trees and grass are noticeably darker on the real flap than the fake.

Also,   on the real flap the “WWW” blends in with the colors of the surrounding water, “ghosted” as you could call it.   On the fake, the “WWW” appears larger, is primarily embroidered in the same shade as the sky.   On the fake the WWW is clearly seen in the water.

Lastly, the real flap uses what I’ll call dark yellow (DYL) for the gold in the chest and text.   On the fake a much lighter shade of yellow is used.     To me the difference in the shades of yellow and color of the WWW are the most easily distinguished color differences.

Listing data for both these flaps are as follows:

Yes, 2005. That is not a typo. This patch had not been listed in Blue Book and until now not pictured on this site. Remember, items only get listed on this site if I know about them.

Croatan lodge issued this rather simply designed patch for their 2005 Fall Fellowship. The design features a traditional representation of the lodge’s deer totem on a blue background. As far as I know this is the only 2005 event patch from this lodge.

Listing data for this issue is as follows:

Woody Woodruff recently met me at my home for lunch. He also brought along some of his more recent flaps to compare with what is already on this site. He brought to my attention this “Sponsor” flap from Croatan lodge that has not been previously listed on this site.

The previous sponsor flap, listed as S57?, has a tan border. This newer piece has a light blue border. He did not know when it was issued. We could only guess its proper place in the ordering of this lodge’s flaps based upon his having the piece for a year or so and the timing of other sponsor issues. The “X6?” was issued in 2005. The “S57?” was issued before the 2006 Conclave flap. So I am placing this piece as “S60?”, just before the 2007 Conclave flap.

In doing this, I have had to renumber several issues previously reported on this blog:

• Lodge 117: 2007 SR-7B Conclave Flap
• Lodge 117: ArrowCorps5 Flaps
• Lodge 117: 2008 SR-7B Conclave Flap

The revised listing data for these issues are as follows:

Perhaps someone more familiar with Croatan’s issues can correct me on this.     Also, please let me know if there has been another “Sponsor” patch issued since this one.   If this is not the correct place for this flap, I will revise this post and the Croatan page on this site to correct the chronological ordering of these flaps.

Finally, I am nearing the end of the new issues from the SR-7B Conclave.

Croatan lodge magically (?) depicted the Croatan Express on their 2008 Conclave flap. Some might say that it’s in homage to “rednecks” in the South that the lodge’s deer totem has been rendered as a railroading version of a hood ornament. This is a lodge that has previously demonstrated its ability to poke fun at itself with an odd design choice.

As some more experienced collectors might remember, this is not the first time Croatan has depicted a steam engine on a “flap”. Even though it is listed as an odd-shape in Blue Book, this patch was Croatan’s 1994 NOAC flap.

Listing data for the 2008 SR-7B Conclave flap is as follows:

Croatan lodge issued a set of five flaps recently for this Summer’s ArrowCorps⁵ events. Each flap depicts one of the five locations the Order of the Arrow will be working at this Summer.

I have already seen these flaps at least twice on eBay, sold as a single lot. Thanks to Greg Grimes and Roger Ward for these images.

The listing data for these flaps are as follows:

Earlier today I was working on the price guide portion of this site and saw a set of five flaps from Croatan 117 that recently sold on eBay. These were issued by the lodge for this Summer’s ArrowCorps⁵ with each flap depicting one of the program’s sites.

Occoneechee lodge will issue a single flap to help fund the travel expenses of its ArrowCorps⁵ participants. The lodge will order 500 of these flaps.

Tsoiotsi Tsogalii lodge will also issue a flap to help fund the travel expenses of its ArrowCorps⁵ participants. I do not know any further information about this flap.

I do not yet have images of any of these patches for this site. If you can help, please do so.

This is another unusual piece from Croatan lodge that seems to have evaded Blue Book and the other various catalogues throughout the years. It’s a diamond shaped patch from Neusiok chapter.

This is one of the more unusual items I’ve seen lately. The design is printed on some sort of light blue sateen-like material. This was then mounted on a backing that feels like card stock, or something similar. A yellow rolled edge border and a thin leather loop were added to finish it off.

This is well beyond the type of material I can personally collect. Would this be described as “printed on composition”?

Looking at how the leather loop is attached, I wonder if this was done afterwards by a previous owner of the patch rather than being issued that way. Were that (at least in part) handmade? Does anyone know anything more about the history behind this piece?

This is my best guess for the Blue Book listing for this piece:

For whatever reasons many North Carolina collectors and Blue Book editors have not paid too much attention to lodge delegate neckerchiefs issued for our section conclaves. As I’m not native to here I don’t understand this bias. Many were forgotten. Only in recent years are they being properly documented.

Woody Woodruff and his wife were here earlier this evening and he brought more stuff from his collection for me to scan. Many of the piece are not yet in Blue Book. Among them was this neckerchief issued by Croatan lodge for the 1984 SE-7 Conclave.

I’m confident this was issued after the other two neckerchiefs already listed in Blue Book for this lodge. So, I have tentatively labelled it N3.

Blue Book data for this piece is as follows: