Comments on: Hardest NY OA To Collect - Area 2G

By: Ray Gould

Ray Gould — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:03:25 +0000

Bill-
There were a total of 25 “Elangomat” patches produced from Gosh Wha Gono #120. At the time of the merger, only 15 (of the 25) had been earned/awarded (one needed to serve as an elangomat and have 75% of their clan seal membership through the Brotherhood level). The difficulty was not so much the high conversion standard (given that Quality Lodge was/is at 50%), but in the Elagomat’s responsibility for tracking each clan member regarding Brotherhood attainment. The award program spanned an 8 year period (and the patch was legendary within the lodge…I remember the first recipient sewing his to his red wool Scouters jacket…….wow!…….I remember the collectors being amazed at this). After 4-5 years, only 3-4 of these had been earned and the standard was relaxed to include Elangomats who had served 2 (or perhaps 3…….fairly certain of the “2″ though) Ordeals. At the time of the lodge’s merger in 1999, the remaining 10 Elangomat patches were sold in lodge #219 auctions at a rate of 1/lodge event garnering $60-100 each time. Thanks for providing a forum to share this type of background information!
My best-
-Ray

By: Ray Gould

Ray Gould — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:40:28 +0000

I believe the #34 Konoshioni L-01 is similar in style to that depicted in your recent post depicting the #284 L-01. I know of only one and will do my best to get a picture so that it may be shared for documentation purposes.
My best-
-Ray

By: Ray Gould

Ray Gould — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:33:01 +0000

Hi Bill-
As soon as I had hit “send” regarding my original publication to patch-L, I regretted to mention, perhaps, the most difficult OA piece (but not listed in Blue Book due) from Area II-G is the Caldwell pin belonging to Gonlix #34. To my knowledge, there are 2 known and both reside in the collection of Bill Topkis (although Bill sold his joint OA collection, he shared that he maintains his collection of Caldwell pins and early Scout camp items). Bill also shared that each of his 2 pins is characterized by unique hallmarks (the presumed earlier example by “Hood” and later example by “J. E. Caldwell”). The Caldwell pin is the oldest known Area II-G piece and is presumed from the 1920’s-1930’s time frame. Gonlix lodge was formed following the the promotion of a Scouting professional from Schenectady Council (Sisilija Lodge #19) to Madison County Council (Lynx #34). The possible debate is whether (or not) Bill Topkis’ “Hood” hallmark example belongs to Lynx #34 or subsequent Gonlix #34. Regardless, they are extremely rare pieces form early OA in the US.
My best-
-Ray