While everyone has the right to make and sell their wares - there is a trend recently where people are making military oriented memorabilia that isn't "genuine" - and some sellers are not being totally "up front" about their items. In particular there are ship's jacket patches that are being offered - that are not only recently made - but are recently designed as well - as the ship did not have an official or otherwise jacket patch at all. If people wish to purchase these items - that's fine - just as long as they are aware that these are not only not originals (made at the time the ship was active); but some are outright fakes - strictly from someone's imagination of what they "think" the ship's patch might have been -- had the ship had one. If you're not sure - ask the seller the items provenance: when was it made? - is it a genuine artifact of the ship? - or is it a "recently made - recently designed" item? Does it match known examples of the genuine items? Again - there is nothing wrong with selling / buying these items as long as they are represented honestly - however - there are many listings where the item is merely pictured - with no description noting that it is a recent "reproduction" - or even a fake. Specific examples are ship's patches for some of the early Submarine Tenders - AS 1 through AS 10 - and some of the WWII tenders - AS 20 through AS 26. There are no known genuine examples of jacket patches for any of these ships - nor has any ship's crewman stepped forward stating they remember any (I'd be DELIGHTED to find examples of ANY!). In fact - in the case of some - such as USS Griffin and USS Pelias - crewmen who served aboard during the ship's career have come forward to note that there were not patches for these two ships - that some crewmen had jackets custom embroidered with some artwork - but those were unique and not "official" - and certainly NOT the design that was being offered on ebay. If you care that the item is genuine - ask questions - do some research. There are pictures of most (genuine) ship's patches at various sites on the web: http://www.tendertale.com has samples for most of the sub tenders, for instance.