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Starting A Philmont CollectionThe ISCA Getting Started Collecting Series

Collecting Philmont patches usually begins with your firsttrip to Philmont. At the closing campfire, you are awardedyour first Philmont Arrowhead Award. It is one of the mostimportant patches in your collection, right up there withyour Eagle Scout Award. Don’t EVER trade it. You workedhard for it. You EARNED it!

While there, youalso made yourfirst trip to theTooth of TimeTraders – themain Philmonttrading post. Youprobably also

made it across the street to the Seaton Library and Museum(and Trading Post of the Training Center). And maybe even theKit Carson Museum (and trading post).

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Many crews or contingents (from all over the world) attending Philmont take the opportu-nity to design patches, neckerchiefs, hats, and tee shirts for their members. While tees,hats and neckerchiefs are fun to trade, by far the most action comes with the contingentpatches.

As of 2004, if you bought one of each patchavailable, you would come home with a collec-tion of over 50 patches, 4 -5 neckerchiefs, 10 to20 neckerchief slides, and potentially severalhundred dollars worth of stuff. And that’s just the“official” items.

Every night after campfire, there is patch tradingon the tables outside the snack bar. Not that this isthe only time or place (trading can happen out inthe backcountry), it is just the most concentrated.Council Shoulder Patches (CSPs) and Order ofthe Arrow flaps (flaps) are the most commonlytraded items.

Don’t get sucked into one of those six-of-yours-for-this-rare-staff-patch-of-minetrades. If you don’t know what you’retrading for, it could turn out to be aprivate issue made by someone purelyfor profit.

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The cost of contingent parches is most reasonable (even for individual crews), and theirsmall size allows them to be carried at all times (cargo pockets are great). The patches thatseem to carry the most trading “power” are the CSP type. Your contingent will have to getcouncil authorization to have them made. They can also prove to be a good fundraiser forthe trip.

— Mike McAdams

So to summarize and over simplify, thecommon types of Philmont Patches include:Arrowhead AwardsTrading Post PatchesTraining Center PatchesMuseum PatchesStaff PatchesContingent Patches

Many of these are readily available for thebeginning collector. Just keeping up with theyearly out-put of Philmont is a daunting task.For advanced collectors, the historical patchesof Philmont go back to 1939. These are cata-logued in Philmont Millennium 1, Volume 1.Sold at Philmont or available on the web atwww.PhilmontM1.com