By Bill Topkis
When I started this collection in 2013, I had no idea there was so much to learn and that I would find the topic of aluminum camp neckerchief slides so interesting. I also did not realize I would find these pieces to be akin to Scout camp folk art. Now I see that is exactly what they are.
No one knows how many of these slides were made. I thought the number likely was around one hundred. I now have more than two hundred different examples and know of close to 250 different aluminum camp slides. I estimate that there are 325 – 425 different slides, although we will never know the exact number.
The collection started when I bought a part of the premier California camp patch collector Adam Lombard’s collection. The purchase was primarily for a fabulous group of vintage California camp pins [Note – camp pins will eventually be coming to this website]. However, Adam asked if I wanted his twelve California aluminum camp slides, too. Although I had seen this type of slide before, like many collectibles I had never considered collecting them, but I decided that if “California Camp Guru” Adam’s opinion is they are worth collecting, then I should collect them as well. Still, it took a couple of months before I pulled the trigger and started seeking them out. I am so glad I did, and appreciate Adam’s guidance that led me to countless hours of joy collecting them.
What Adam no doubt saw, and I now have come to see as well, is that these camp slides are “metal badges”. Just as some camp badges are made of felt or cotton twill, these are made of aluminum. Many of these aluminum camp slides have twill camp badge counterparts of the exact same design. Yes, they were generally made to be worn as neckerchief slides (some were for bolos or other usages), but they are badges nonetheless, and I collect them that way. I sometimes get an “Aha!” reaction when I collector places the metal badge next to a felt or twill example and they see what I have been seeing. And collectors, these are clearly rarer than many felt camp badges, but trade / sell for a fraction of the price. Collectible prices on these slides generally range from $5 to $30 with rare examples from collectible camps sometimes, but not always, bringing more.
These slides are almost all known to be ordered through BSA National Supply. They were available from around 1950 through roughly 1970. Some camps had many extra and continued to use them for several years after National Supply ceased making them. Minimum orders for slides appear to have been 250. Prices varied from about $0.33 to under a quarter a piece in larger quantities. That’s about the cost of the patches of the same era. The slides came in two sizes. The larger, and more common size is about 2¾”. The smaller versions are about 1¾”. The smaller size is about eight times less common than the larger size, but does not seem to confer any premium value. That is likely because if someone collects and needs the slide that is available, the size is irrelevant.
Currently about one in eight camps known to have used these slides, are known to have two or more different slides (and as more slides are discovered that number may be closer to one in six camps). That is why I always have to compare a slide, even if I already have one from the camp in my collection. There are also minor varieties kept in this collection as well; likely the result of a reorder. There are also examples where the only difference is in how the maker chose to make it. I often keep more than one slide because of quality of workmanship. The color of paint used does not create a different slide, that was simply the choice of the maker.
And that is what has attracted me to these slides. It is the Scoutcraft / handicraft aspect to them. Once made, each are unique, made by a Scout at camp. Completed slides were not bought in the trading post. Scouts (and Cubs) bought a kit, typically in the camp trading post or at the camp handicraft lodge. Sometimes a troop or pack would buy kits for every Scout and a fun hour on an afternoon at summer camp was spent making these sweet custom slides. Scouts would go home with their own handcrafted neckerchief slide. Because each Scout made their own slide, Scouts rarely had more than one of these and they did not trade them or have them for trade. Not that collectors were collecting them. These aluminum camp slides were virtually untradable during their two decades of usage. It is only in recent years has any real interest been drawn to them, a lot of that coming from my attracting attention to them.
In general, these slides are rarer than patches of the same era. Not every Scout in camp made a slide. Because these were not seen as a collectible, Scout collectors have many more camp patches available than these slides. And since many were made by Cubs or Scouts that dropped out after making them, a very high percentage have simply disappeared, while others were never interested in trading their handicraft item. Today when one appears on eBay, often the story behind it is that someone is selling Dad’s Scout stuff.
Scouts crafted their slides however they wanted, but there is a preferred way to make them. The best results were achieved by first polishing the slide. Lacquer (or enamel) paint is then applied (preferably black) and is intended to be wiped off, so that the paint remains only in the grooves. With care, multiple colored lacquer could be used on different elements of the design. Some used a ball peen hammer along the edge achieving an almost flint-like look. Yet others just painted, often not using lacquer or enamel paint, over the entire design. A rivet and bendable rectangular aluminum plate were included in the packet for completing the neckerchief slide. For my collection I have chosen to unbend the aluminum plates for display and storage.
As you look at the slides in this collection you will see examples of superior workmanship. Some are so nice I wonder if the handicraft director made it, or perhaps just an artistically inclined Scout. There are of course examples on the other end of the spectrum… I can imagine the young Scout or Cub that made it. Because of varying quality, I have in many cases elected to keep more than one example of the exact same slide (not to be confused where I keep multiple different slides from the same camp.) I also will often keep a “mint in the package” (or “MIP”) example along with one demonstrating a Scout’s handicraft.
At the time of this writing, it is believed that this is the only national collection of these slides. (Who will be next?) One other collector, Jody Tucker, once collected these slides, and provided insight to me. Slides that only have a council name are presumed to be issued at their camp and are included in this collection. There are “non-camp” slides of this type, and I do maintain a collection of them, but they are not emphasized in this collection. There is only one known Order of the Arrow lodge that issued one of these slides – Silver Tomahawk Lodge 80.
I look forward to hearing from people that have an interest in these slides. If you have one that does not appear on the site, at a minimum I would like an image. But of course, I would love the opportunity to trade or purchase any that I am missing. Along with this being the largest collection of these slides, the second largest collection of these slides are my duplicates, which are trade only (like the good ol’ days) for any I do not have. Let’s trade!
Bill Topkis
[email link to [email protected] here.]Current “Known Needs” for this Collection
[Note: Unlike most other collections I have pursued, most slides I find for this collection are not previously known to me. That is because there are no historical lists from previously collectors of these slides. These are the “known needs”.]- Camp Ahwahnee*(#1)
- Camp Bay Huron – Bear Lake
- Camp Buck Toms
- Camp Eagle
- El Burrito Outpost*(#2)
- Camp General Knox – Woronoak
- Chief Logan Reservation*(Honorable Mention)
- Greenhills Scout Reservation
- Camp Horne
- Camp Karankawa (Bay Area Council)*(#9)
- Camp Karoondinha II*(#10)
- Lost Lake Scout Reservation
- Camp Mapleton (Camporee)
- Camp Marston (YMCA)
- Camp Miakonda I (Monogram)*(#3)
- Camp Miakonda II (Chieftain)*(Honorable Mention)
- Camp Plymouth
- Camp Roto-Kiwan (awaiting image confirmation)
- Camp Tapico*(#5)
- Camp Teetonkah*(Honorable Mention)
- Camp Thistlewaite
- Camp Tom Upchurch II (single outer ring).
- Camp Tonkawa*(#6)
- Camp Tracy (Wigwam) (unconfirmed – no image)*Would be #2 if confirmed
- Camp Westmoreland I*(#7)
- Camp Westmoreland II*(#8)
- Camp Yawgoog II*(#4)
*(#) = These connote my personal “Top Ten” known “needs” and rank. Camp Ahwahnee for example was a camp I spent multiple weeks of summer camp at as a youth (and winter camps, too). The slide was issued a decade or more before I was there in the early 70s and I never looked for one, nor knew about it, until I started this collection. It sure would be nice to have that slide from a camp of my youth.
Unverified slides are in gray (I have confirmed all other slides by either having the slide, or an image of an example).