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Author Topic:   Apollo 12 crew patch variants, variations
spaced out
Member

Posts: 3170
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 01-18-2009 06:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Whilst investigating in detail the question of multiple variants of the Apollo 12 crew patch I discovered quite a few surprises, not least the fact that the crew actually wore another patch entirely immediately post-recovery.

You can read about the multiple variants of the original crew patch and the existence of another crew patch altogether on the Apollo 12 page of my Crew Patches site.

As ever, this is only my interpretation of the evidence that I have access to. If other people have a different interpretation or access to other images that help please feel free to contact me.

Also, I'd welcome a good scan of those patches I don't have in my own collection i.e. the 'other' crew patch, and variant 2 of the original crew patch.

hoorenz
Member

Posts: 1035
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-18-2009 11:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hoorenz   Click Here to Email hoorenz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Very interesting read!

KAPTEC
Member

Posts: 600
From: Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2005

posted 01-18-2009 01:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for KAPTEC   Click Here to Email KAPTEC     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Fortunately I got the "Variant 2." Thank you Chris for this post and for your work looking the origin of the patches.

Bill Hunt
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Posts: 402
From: Irvine, CA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 01-18-2009 03:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bill Hunt   Click Here to Email Bill Hunt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice work, Chris, as always!

Going back through my patches, turns out I've got versions 1 and 3 of the crew patch, plus the Ellington and one of the souvenir patches. That no. 2 patch was a new one to me though. Good spot! It's amazing how many little variations there are.

My Ellington patch, by the way, has the fourth (lower/right) star just a little farther away from the wake, so it looks a bit more distinct. Very cool research, man. You're doing a great job.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 46749
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 01-18-2009 04:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Has anyone had a chance to ask why there were so many variations with either Bean or Gordon? Given Conrad's comments as reprinted on Chris' site, it seems it was something about which they were aware.

andrewcli
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Posts: 328
From: La Jolla, CA, USA
Registered: Jul 2007

posted 01-18-2009 04:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for andrewcli   Click Here to Email andrewcli     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice job Chris!

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3170
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 01-18-2009 05:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In some ways I find it amazing that we can still discover new stuff now 40 years after the event.

Mainly, however, it's due to more and more info going online, including photos that haven't been available before, and better resolution versions of those that we already had access to.

There's still plenty of stuff to work out. What's really a shame is that it's almost impossible to work out who made what. That is something I can't really do with only online research.

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3170
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 01-19-2009 02:02 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Although the names are arbitrary I'll probably amend the site to refer to the patch they wore much of the time in the Mobile Quarantine Facility as the 'Quarantine' Crew Patch, and refer to the one they actually wore throughout the recovery process and later at their arrival at Ellington as the 'Recovery' Crew Patch.

andrewcli
Member

Posts: 328
From: La Jolla, CA, USA
Registered: Jul 2007

posted 01-19-2009 11:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for andrewcli   Click Here to Email andrewcli     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It appears that the backing for variant 1 and 3 are different. Variant 1 has a cheesecloth backing while 3 does not. Is it possible there were 2 makers despite the patches being overall the same?

benguttery
Member

Posts: 548
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 01-19-2009 04:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for benguttery   Click Here to Email benguttery     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Excellent study. Thanks.

I have that unusual rare/flown version and Version 3 of the crew patch. They were all offered for sale locally by someone who must have known Alan Bean. Bean went to high school in Fort Worth and there was an Alan Bean Day, Parade, etc., after he returned from the moon. Also, in that sale were lots of covers signed by him and the crew and a beta cloth crew patch signed by all three. There were several embroidered patches present and I bought both those I mentioned above.

It's out there... keep looking.

davidcwagner
Member

Posts: 892
From: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-21-2009 08:56 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for davidcwagner   Click Here to Email davidcwagner     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have an Apollo 12 patch similar to the description on Chris' website as:
This is the earlier version of the Lion Brothers Apollo 12 patch. It has yellow horiztonal (sic on website) thread in the border. The lunar surface differs from the AB Emblem version and the wake behind the ship is thinner. [4"/101mm]
However on my Apollo 12 unhallmarked Lion Brothers Patch, the horizontal thread in the border is gold rather than the yellow. This appears to be the same type of thread on the radial gold thread hallmarked A12 Lion Brothers patch. The moon and star pattern are identical to the radial gold thread hallmarked Apollo 12 Lion Brothers patch. Also the blue field in the flag is just the lightest ghost. I have one with the horizontal yellow thread in the border also.

streetsnake
Member

Posts: 182
From: Ohio
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 03-23-2019 04:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for streetsnake   Click Here to Email streetsnake     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Can someone please verify that the below is indeed an Apollo 12 "Recovery" crew patch? I just want to make sure I am correct on my research.

Besixdouze
Member

Posts: 236
From: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 03-23-2019 05:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Besixdouze   Click Here to Email Besixdouze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Looks pretty good to me.

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3170
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 03-24-2019 04:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yes. Nice example.

MartinAir
Member

Posts: 90
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 08-01-2021 06:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Recently obtained these vintage patches.

The Apollo 11 patch looks like AB Emblem's early "Green Moon" patch [AS11ABE], the Apollo 15 patch is "Cape Kennedy Medals 3" (per Chris Spain's website) and the Apollo 12 should be the "Quarantine" Crew Patch, right? What do you think?

kosmo
Member

Posts: 461
From:
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 08-01-2021 08:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for kosmo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
At first glance it looks similar, but there are some small differences that make me question it.

MartinAir
Member

Posts: 90
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 08-02-2021 06:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
According to Chris Spain's website, there are three variants of the quarantine patch and this seems to be the variant 1. As noted, there seems to be differences, perhaps on the reverse?

As far as I know, there are no other variants of the quarantine patch.

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3170
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-02-2021 08:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Apollo 12 looks good to me. There's always some variation in individual patches.

MartinAir
Member

Posts: 90
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 08-02-2021 04:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What a great community! Thank you for your replies and comments.

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