subject: Patch Collecing: An Age Old Pastime [print this page] The summer time is motorcycle time in the States, with rallies popping up in various places all over the country. It's also a great time to follow the biker circuit and build your patch collection through purchases and swaps. During the winter, the biker circuit tends to go a bit quiet so this is the right time to start organizing your collection of patches.
Many of us consider embroidered patches to be quite a new thing but the truth of the matter is that patch collecting has existed for decades. In actual fact, patches go back thousands of years to the traditional cultures of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Some of the earliest patches ever discovered were from ancient Chinese dynasties that most of us have never heard of. These elaborately designed embroidered patches were used for identifying people or things.
How Patches are Connected to the Military
you can find many historians who believe that the major reason why patches were produced in the first place was for military identification. Patches would identify a warrior as to the particular group he belonged to, perhaps his rank, and sometimes even his position. Embroidered patches have become much more sophisticated as have the armies that use them. There are tons of patches used by the modern army which denote different divisions, brigades, special units and the rank of the individual.
There've been people collecting patches for as long as they've been in existence. It is possible to see how important patches are from a collectors point of view when you consider that there've been a few collections of military patches found from ancient cultures. It seems fitting that any modern patch collection would include a section devoted to military patches.
Bike Rally Patches
Most patch collectors will also have a section of bike rally patches too. As already mentioned, the summer months sees a lot of bike rallies happening all over the states but also in other parts of the world that include Europe, Canada and Australia. Motor bike clubs usually tend to put the same kind of importance on patches as the military do these days. A motorcycle club will use their patch in order to identify the club that the motorcyclist belongs to but also to denote rank and position.
there is some bikers who feel they need to buy a patch from each rally that they attend. there is a variety of reasons why they might do this such as wanting to extend their collection, wanting to identify with that rally or to swap with other collectors. you can find even museums, like the one in Sturgis, SD that include biker patches as part of their display. It would be uncommon to find a patch collection that did not have a section of bike rally patches as well as military patches.
One of the good things about collecting patches is the fact that you dont even have to be a biker. Provided you have a passion for patches and a few dollars to spend, then you can get started. With a couple dozen patches in your collection, you could start swapping with other collectors.
