$700 for a WW2 Red Raiders squadron patch? Any idea what this one's worth?

[Mr Badger]

Hey folks, quite a few years back, I picked up a nice old squadron patch at an antique mall in Memphis, which I promptly stashed somewhere 'safe' and couldn't find again! It turned up in a box of misc clutter when I was having a tidy up over the weekend so I thought I'd look online and see where it'd actually come from...

Well, you could've blown me down wiv a feaver (say it with a Limey accent) cos the closest I saw to my patch was priced at an astronomical $700 on an antique website! It's described as "Australian-Made WWII 2nd Bomb Squadron, 22nd BG, 5th AF "Red Raiders" Jacket Patch with Red Border", here's the pic:

And here's my patch, which has the same construction, but a green border:

So I guess the issues are, a) is the patch on the antiques website really worth $700, and b) when is my patch from and what's its value?

Any help gratefully received!

 

[Story]

The green ring vs. red probably differentiates a different squadron within the 22nd.

Here's a history of the unit
http://www.ozatwar.com/22ndbomb.htm

 

[Mr Badger]

Thanks chap, I saw that site... well, further rooting around the web makes it clear that my patch is worth quite a tidy sum, there are several on specialist vendor sites, at $350, $450 and $700...

 

[Mr Badger]

Sold to a specialist vendor for $200, which will go towards *groan* a new fence for our back garden...

 

[Phantomfixer]

Not a bad flip if you ask me, Assuming you did not pay 200 for it ; )....

 

[SIGGY]

You should have held out a little longer there are a few sites that you could have gotten more than $200.00 for it I'm sure , but if you were happy with that sum , nothing wrong with that either .

 

[Windsock]

Red Raiders A-2

For interest this is a Red Raiders A-2 I picked up last year, locally made V505 jacket- something i've wanted to get for for a very long time. It belonged to a B-26 Pilot from the 2ndBS 22ndBG and has two lovely Australian made patches. The back was painted at some time with what appears to be the RR Viking but it's too worn to be sure. Great little jacket and interesting to compare with my other US made originals.

I presume your patch would have been worn on the right breast. Still it's a shame to see people remove patches just because of their individual value, but then it may well have been removed by the original owner or family.

 

[Zemke Fan]

The market for patches is VERY soft right now. My own best guess is that (almost) everyone who wanted to build a collection of WWII patches has done so over the last decade or so. The guys with their own websites have inflated values on most everything they sell. (This is no different than sites that specialize in vintage Danish cufflinks, for example.) $200 isn't a bad price in this market.