Annual Trade-O-Ree combines Boy Scout history and zeal for collecting

~ Money is usually not involved in Boy Scout patch collecting.

Patches were the big item at the 12th annual Trade-O-Ree held Friday and Saturday at the VFW in Cape Girardeau. Parker Brown, a 12-year-old Boy Scout from Troop 5, likes to come to these Boy Scout memorabilia trading events so he can upgrade and expand his patch collection. "It's about having the best collection," he said.

About 20 tables, displaying Scouting items from the early 1900s to the present, contained membership cards, tie racks, neckerchief slides, paperweights, uniforms, diaries and more. Jerry Hampton, the event's organizer, said, "The biggest thing I get a charge out of is talking to people about Scouting."

Hampton, who has been involved in Scouting for more than 40 years, expands on his collection by trading and donations made to him. Uniforms from Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and Italy were displayed. Historic uniforms, in a separate room set up for an auction, dated as far back as the 1930s. "At an auction you never know what it's going to bring," Hampton said.

Brown and Tyler Anderson, another Troop 5 Scout, got advice about their patch collections from Hampton and an Eagle Scout in their troop, Wesley Spinks. Anderson acquired 51 patches and only spent $2. "They give you a bag of random patches to get you started," he said. He had three favorites -- two from national jamborees and one from Israel. The Scouts said about half the members in their troop were into collecting patches.

Spinks, 17, got interested in collecting when he was Brown's and Anderson's age. He has a few hundred patches. "National jamborees are held only every five years," he said, displaying the set of seven patches that fit together in a circle about 12 inches in diameter. "This Star Wars set I got at the 2005 National Jamboree in Richmond, Va., is worth about $200.

"The 2010 jamboree is also the 100th anniversary of Scouting," Spinks said as he explained how valuable those patches would be.

Spinks brought patches from the Greater St. Louis Area Council along for trading when he went to the national jamboree. A patch of Captain Crunch on a patriotic background cost him two Greater St. Louis patches. Money is not usually involved. Value is established by the number of patches made, visual appeal and whether it is part of a set.

New this year were Boy Scout cards that were packaged with cigarettes and chocolate from the early 1900s. Detailed illustrations of Boy Scouts raising flags, holding ceremonies, being loyal, courteous and other characteristics of Scouting were depicted on small 1-by-3-inch cards. Norman Rockwell cards, which came later, were a little bigger.

Wayne Clark's ring of tables contained everything from rejected artist renderings for Greater St. Louis Area Council patches to 1952 George Washington medals that were distributed to Scouts for promoting voting to the population at large -- and everything in between. Clark, from Great River, Mo., has been in Scouting as a leader for 25 years. "Scouting has a lot to do with ethics. I love it. This is my fifth time as Cubmaster. What you see here tells the history of Scouting. You can't find it anywhere else. We do this to keep Scouting alive," he said.

Clark buys from other collectors and on eBay.

Clark described the significance of the Scout uniform from the first jamboree in 1937, held in Washington, D.C. Unusual for its completeness, the uniform included the Baden Powell hat with an official Boy Scout marking inside, plus shorts, belt and shirt. It was tagged for $275. "The first one was supposed to be held in 1935 but on account of polio it was canceled," Clark said. All the promotional items were made up, but the jamboree was never held.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133