Identifying a crew patch for Apollo 1 and Apollo 7 is pretty straightforward, but Apollo 8 is a different story.
When they arrived on the U.S.S. Yorktown following recovery the crew were wearing betacloth flightsuits with betacloth patches. They later changed into blue jumpsuits but, as can been seen in the photo on the right, these did not have an embroidered mission patch attached. |
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Since the crew did not wear an embroidered patch before, during or after the flight there is effectively no embroidered patch that qualifies as a crew patch for Apollo 8. The closest we can get is the embroidered patch shown on the right, examples of which were flown on the mission itself as souvenirs by the crew[1].
At first glance this appears to be a regular AB Emblem patch but subtle differences, particularly the distinctive segmented pattern to the light blue thread on the seas of the Earth (clearly visible with light at an angle to the patch but less visible in a scan), show that this was actually produced by another manufacturer, or is at least a rare early variant by AB.
This patch appears to be scarce, although given its similar appearance to the regular AB Emblem patch some examples are presumably overlooked by collectors.
The only unflown example of this patch to come to market recently was offered in a mixed lot at the Spring 2008 Goldberg auction[2].
[2] Goldberg Auction Spring 2008 lot 368, eBay item no. 320232198100 Apr 11, 2008 sold at $552, included MFA medallion and signatures of Borman and Lovell. This values the patch alone at perhaps $400.
