As an embroidery industry professional, I am interested in how the Ebay market and the broader police/fire/scout collectible patch market understands the patch manufacturing business. Especially, is there any value attached to authentic domestic US made emblems, now that the lion's share of new patches are made in China and Taiwan? This guide offers a question and invitation to dialogue.

I found this Guide to be very helpful for collectors looking for collectible patches: "Police Patches: Get what you are paying for."  If you haven't yet read it, search for it and take a look. The seller - fanddcrafts - is knowledgeable and offers good insight into patch collecting on Ebay. They do not address the question of how to identify a domestic US made emblem, nor how to identify a true Schiffli patch from a modern multihead patch.

From my experience, so few Schiffli plants are still in operation, their managers scrambling to stay in production, and the minimum thresholds for each job higher than modern multihead machines, that it would be very difficult to make authentic Schiffli reproductions.  On the other hand, it would be relatively simple to make small reproduction runs of old police patches using China or Taiwan factories.

And perhaps, it doesn't really matter to patch collectors. However, if there is any value to scarcity in this market as in other collectible areas, then wouldn't there be a premium attached to true Schiffli patches which could date from the 1950s' or 1960s's?

Just some thoughts, hope this will help collectors evaluate what to buy and what to avoid. Happy and successful ebaying!