This guide is for persons buying (and selling) embroidered patches from NASA missions.  I do not sell patches.  I have no vested interest in the information.  The information was collected from various sources, including NASA and other websites and from my years collecting.  The opinions are my own.

1.  What are patches?

Beginning with the Gemini 5 mission, American astronauts commemorated their space mission with individually designed patches.  These patches were often designed by the astronauts themselves.  Early American astronauts came from a military background where similar patches denoted squadron affiliations or special tours of duty.   In general, NASA patches were about four inches in diameter.  The Gemini patches were usually embroidered and sewn onto the spacesuits. Following the Apollo 1 fire, the design or logo was silkscreened onto Beta-Cloth, the material from which the suits were made.  Real Beta-Cloth patches are extremely rare and highly sought after by collectors.  Also, each crew took a few loose embroidered patches with them to give as keepsakes on their return but the number varied with each crew.  The shuttle astronauts continue this tradition today.

Patches available at space centers and museums today are "inexpensive" copies generally produced in China.  In some cases they only vaguely resemble the original artwork from which the the patch is taken.  The quality of thread, craftsmenship and color fidelity is generally very low.

2.  Fakes, Frauds and Lies

In the 60's and 70's, there were two main manufacturers of NASA patches, AB Emblems and Lion Brothers.  AB Emblems is still around, Lion Brothers is not.  Over the last forty years, other manufacturers have reproduced the patches as well.  Some of these more modern patches are of superior quality and faithfulness to the original design when compared to patches from the 60's.  Unfortunately, some companies have also copied the hallmarks and other features of some of the old patches in an effort to increase the value of their own product.  A hallmark is a tiny letter or number hidden somewhere on the patch to denote its manufacturer.  The most famous hallmark is the tiny "XV" hidden in the Apollo 15 patch from Lion Brothers.  For many years, the Lion Brothers patches were considered the most valuable, because generally speaking, the fidelity of these patches to the original artwork, especially to the first seven Apollo missions, was superior to other manufacturers at the time.  It also made these patches the most copied.  Not all of the patches advertised for sale on eBay as Lion Brothers are fakes, but a forgery is a distinct possibility.  Also, as I noted above, a number of more recent patches have surpassed the fidelity of the original Lion Brothers patches.  Just being a Lion Brothers patch does not necessarily make it valuable.  With the advent of computer-controlled embroidery, many local shops can now produce superior renderings of these patches.  All it takes is money.

Edit:  There's nothing wrong with the Chinese copies or other imitations, they're just not as nice as they could be.  You can get a set of these and have a very nice, inexpensive and interesting collection for display.  But, for a little more money and some patience, you can have a high quality, visually and tactally superior collection.  Or, if you are so inclined, you can collect a period- correct set, meaning the patches you have were made at or near the time of the missions themselves which will probably limit you to Lion Brothers patches. 

3.  Provenance

Provenance is the word collectors use to describe the ownership history of a collectable, to prove an article is what the seller says it is, if you will.  Provenance is all but non-existant on eBay.  Few if any sellers can establish that their patch really is a 60's era Lion Brothers patch (rather than a forgery) or that it is an American-made AB Emblems patch (as opposed to a Chinese copy commissioned by AB).  If they can't prove it, should you spend extra money for it?  No.

4.  High Fidelity

There is a better way.  Buy the the patches for fidelity to the artwork's sake rather than for an attempt at period correctness.  The original artwork for the Apollo missions is recorded at a number of different websites including NASA's own and the Apollo Archive project.  Original Gemini artwork is available for some missions.  With the Gemini patches in particular, try to find a picture of the astronaut wearing the patch on his suit or flight jacket.  Sometimes the astronauts themselves made changes to the design both before and after their mission.  These designs are colorful and interesting.  They are immediately recognizable to anyone alive at the time.   

Shop patches on eBay for quality of the patch.  Intricate designs require high tread-count patches.  For instance, the best-looking Apollo 9 patch was made just a few years ago by an unknown manufacturer and offered for sale through an on-line seller.  The artwork was well-done and proportional, the font of the lettering and names was correct, the colors were correct.  It wasn't made by Lion Brothers or AB Emblems, but it was hands-down the best-looking embroidered Apollo 9 patch ever made.  Unfortunately, when the seller ran out of these patches, they started selling cheap Chinese copies.

So what should you look for?

• Font - the best gauge of fidelity is the lettering -is it the right font and in the right position?  Compare the original artwork to some of the patches on eBay; you'll see what I mean right away.
• Shape - Not all of the patches were round; Apollo 8 was the silhouette of an Apollo capsule; Gemini 9 and Apollo X were shields.  If you have a shaped patch, make sure it's the right shape.
• Color - Often dark blue is substituted for black and yellow for gold.  Again, compare the patches to the original artwork.
• Artwork - many of the patches contain intricately detailed depictions of the hardware flown from the command module of Apollo 7 (which is almost never in the right location) to the Saturn V on Apollo 9 (which usually looks more like an Atlas than a Saturn).  Is the perspective of the artwork correct? Does the detail match the original artwork?  The horses on Apollo 13 should be beautiful, make sure your patch is too.  Is Apollo facing the right way on your Apollo 17?   Is the Skylab properly silhouetted?  Is Soyuz properly spelled in Cyrillic?  (Don't laugh, some of them aren't.)
• Thread count - the quality of the artwork is always a function of thread count.  The more thread, the better the resolution and the higher the price to manufacture.  High thread count usually means sharp shapes and letters and a fine flat finish to the patch itself.  Once you see a well-done high thread count patch, the cheap stuff will never be good enough again.

Now while you're shopping, it may turn out that the patch you think is most realistic is a Lion Brothers patch or an AB Emblem patch or perhaps even a semi-legendary Texas Embroidery or it can be one you commissioned from a local shop.  It might even be a "fake"or simply a modern rendering.  It really doesn't matter because you are shooting for the best depictions.  When you display them, and you should, your display will be awesome.    

5.  Early Patches

Recall that the first patch was Gemini 5.  There are a number of patches made of Mercury and the first two Gemini flights.  With one exception, these are just crap.  The exception is a rare patch commissioned by Gus Grissom and John Young, to commemorate their Gemini 3 flight after the other Gemini flights started using patches.  The patch is round, white and blue, and depicts a Gemini capsule floating on water.  Both astronauts used this logo on flight suits and other articles.  By adoption, this is a historic patch also.  A good quality, modern reproduction comes up on eBay occasionally.

Some argument can be made that Gemini 4's patch was an American flag.  Until that flight, the only logo on U.S. spacesuits was the little NASA "Meatball" .  The astronauts on that flight added an American flag patch.  Every subsequent flight has had an American flag on the space suits.  So, I suppose a "complete" Gemini set would have the adopted Gemini 3 patch, a borderless 3.5 x 5 American Flag patch for Gemini 4 and then the various patches for the rest of the flights.  Note that in almost seven years, I have never seen a correct Gemini 10 patch sold on eBay.  Check the shape, (the corners of the "X" should protrude from the circle) you'll see what I mean.

There were no Mercury patches. Period.  The capsules had logos or wording painted on the side.

6.  Late patches

The Skylab missions had some interesting patches. One mission even had patches made for their wives.  Psychedelic colors were used.  The quality of patches available for these missions varies greatly.  Use extra care in selecting these as each patch has subtle nuances.  Do a little research and try to find pictures of the patch actually on the astronauts (or cosmonauts) suit.  I already mentioned the Soyuz spelling problems . . . .

7.  Shuttle Patches

There are so many of these that the collections from AB Emblems are a good starting place.  AB was or is the official supplier of these patches.  I don't know if they are still made domestically or if these are contracted out off-shore.  There are a bunch of these so you better get started.

8.  A word on Beta-Cloth

Beta-Cloth can still be purchased; occasionally a yard or two turns up on eBay.  The Apollo mission logos are available as high resolution, full-color downloads from NASA and elsewhere.  Silkscreening is not difficult.  Keep these three facts in mind when purchasing Apollo mission logos on Beta-Cloth purporting to be from the missions. 

Edit:  Since this was originally displayed I heard from several sellers who took issue with this section.  I stand by it.  If you had a Beta-Cloth patch that was handed to you by Neil Armstrong himself and a silkscreen fake, could you tell the difference?  Probably.  Can someone who's just buying one on eBay tell ? No.   Don't pay big bucks for Beta-Cloth unless there is substantial assurance that it's the real thing.  Reread the provenance section.

Re-edit:  I'm not talking about some guy at the surf shop silkscreening Metallica T-shirts,  I'm talking about an industrial computer-controlled screener.  It doesn't take too many patches at $100+ a piece to pay for a run on such a machine.

9.  Re-Writing History

A couple of readers sent a question to the effect that even though I say that there were no Project Mercury and early Gemini patches, NASA's own website has a page devoted to them. I can't put the link in an eBay guide, but you can find it on the NASA website.  The short answer is that NASA is peddling fake history; there were no such patches.  To be fair, there are few, if any, NASA employees who were even alive during the early space program much less knowledgeable on such matters.  The only patch Mercury and early Gemini astronauts wore on their space suits was the little blue NASA meatball.  You will not find a single frame of film from the Sixties with any of these bogus patches on a spacesuit.  I know, it hurts when you discover your government has lied to you . . . .

10. Conclusion

This guide is just to get you started with your patch collection.  I hope you found it helpful.  If you did, please vote for it.  If you didn't, please let me know what information you were looking for and I may add your suggestion when I revise this guide.  If you hated it, (and some people have) let me know why.  Use the contact member function of My Messages.  Ebay does not always allow me to respond, but I will try.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting.