posted 05-03-2012 01:20 PM               

A thorough review of the available photographic evidence, including the Retro Space Images ASTP discs, by patch collector Colin Burgess showed that the latter variant is clearly visible in all examples of the embroidered patch worn by the crew after the flight, worn by the Russian crew members during the flight, and used in NASA presentations from the time.

Based on all this evidence, and particularly a shot of the crew in their pale blue flight suits in Hawaii after the flight, it seems clear that this variant qualifies as a Crew Patch for the mission, alongside the well-known initialed crew patches.

posted 05-04-2012 02:42 AM               

Imagine my despair, however at seeing Chris' post less than two hours before this auction ended. Such is the monster he has created.

I fully expected, having checked the patches again, that I'd be outbid but despite a last minute flurry, I'd pre-bid enough.

posted 05-04-2012 03:26 AM               

What tipped my hand now is the overwhelming weight of photographic evidence provided by the RetroSpaceImages discs, in particular the picture I include above.

If the crew had changed into these blue jump suits in the recovery helicopter I probably would have declared this a crew patch some years ago.

Anyway, there was quite a bonanza of crew patches on eBay yesterday, with 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and ASTP all up for grabs.

Like most people I held out a weak hope at the beginning that maybe some of these patches would go unrecognized but of course in reality every one was almost certainly being watched eagerly by dozens of patch collectors from the first day they appeared.

posted 05-04-2012 05:00 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Beau08:
As to the production run its probably impossible to say for sure, but what I do know is that I have yet to see another one on eBay or anywhere else to date.

---

posted 05-04-2012 08:49 AM               

I would hazard a very good guess and say if it originated from the estate of the late Deke Slayton, all of the ASTP patches from that estate that have been sold over the years by a number of the auction houses, including those listed on eBay by Lunar legacies, that had the letter of authenticity signed by his wife Bobby Slayton, all were from that one production run by AB Emblem in 1975.

posted 05-04-2012 10:30 AM               

There's no real reason to think at the moment that they're especially rare, and we can be almost certain that many more of these were produced than the 150 (+ overrun) examples of each of the initialed crew patches.

posted 05-06-2012 12:29 PM               

Also added many more eBay sales to other 'crew' patches sales footnotes, and re-vamped the 'contractor' patches page into three pages.

posted 06-25-2013 10:52 AM               

The embroidery and detail is better than the 4" and 4 3/4" initialed replicas. The gold border is stitched horizontally. The main tell is that "Slayton" and "Leonov" are closer than the A-B emblem and farther than the Lion Brothers version.

posted 10-10-2015 03:22 PM               

Both the US and Soviet crews are wearing the same blue/red ASTP project patch. The photo above is in high enough resolution that specific details about the patch are revealed.

After many months of searching I was finally able to acquire actual examples of the patches that I believe match those patches exactly. I was also able to find other photos of the crews wearing the patches during their combined training at JSC.

Based on criteria that determines if a vintage patch is "crew worn"

• wore previous to the mission in training OR
  
• wore on their recovery jumpsuits OR
  
• wore in other public affairs on their jumpsuits/jackets/etc
  
• smaller production run

Research into the ASTP blue/red patch also led me to find an example of a flown patch that does not match this or the A-B Emblem souvenir patch.

Based on criteria that determines if a vintage patch is a "crew souvenir":

• carried on a mission but not necessarily worn
  
• distributed to limited number of people inside NASA
  
• smaller production

posted 05-12-2016 08:00 AM            

It was designed by the Soviet program team and produced in a very limited number. I got my from the family of Vladimir Syromiatnikov — Big Cheese surname by NASA team.