Apollo 8
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.
Since the crew did not wear an embroidered patch before, during or immediately after the flight there is effectively no embroidered patch that qualifies as a Crew Patch for Apollo 8. The closest we can get is a rare style of embroidered patch which was used in most official NASA presentations created at the time and examples of which were also flown on the mission. I refer to this patch as the Apollo 8 Crew Souvenir Patch.
This particular version of the Apollo 8 patch was worn by some of the technicians on their coveralls during the pre- flight suit-up operations, as can be seen in the photo on the right.
It's also worth noting that James Lovell wore this particular version of the Apollo 8 patch in 1970 on his flight suit whilst in training for the Apollo 13 mission.
The distinctive segmented thread pattern on the seas is clearly visible in the photo (70-H-472) shown here.
Crew Souvenir Patches
Apollo 8 Crew Souvenir Patch
This patch was recently confirmed as having been produced by Texas Art Embroidery for NASA.
Apollo 8 3" Crew Souvenir Patch [AS8UNK3i3]
Apart from Lovell, Anders also apparently gifted at least one example of this patch to a NASA worker shortly after the mission.
For this reason this 3" patch can be classified as a crew souvenir patch for the Apollo 8 mission.
Other Embroidered Mission Patches
AB Emblem Patch
The AB Emblem patch has black outlines around the Moon, Earth, and figure 8.
Lion Brothers Patch
The Lion Brothers Apollo 8 patch has no black outlines in its design and the shadow on the Earth is two-tone. Note that a rare plastic backed prototype version of this patch exists.
Space Spin-Off Ltd. patch
This patch was offered to readers of Look-in magazine and Countdown magazine in the UK in February 1972, and was part of a set manufactured by Space Spin-Off Ltd. The design appears to be based on the AB Emblem patch, but executed on thin blue cloth (not twill) with a cut edge.
Unknown manufacturer patch [AS8UNK1]
The shading on the moon and left side of the earth is grey like the TAE patch rather than the tan of the AB patch, and the crew name lettering is tall and narrow, similar to that of the TAE patch, however it doesn't have the segmented fill pattern in the ocean that is one of the key characteristics of the TAE patch.
The patterning on the moon is also different from both the TAE and AB patches, and there are distinct differences in the designs of the landmasses.
Finally, unlike both the AB and TAE patches this patch has a cut edge, with traces of the underlying black twill exposed. However, as the edges of examples seen so far were very neatly trimmed this is actually not that easy to spot in photos.
Unknown manufacturer patch [AS8UNK2]
This newly-identified vintage patch was grouped with AS7UNK2, AS9UNK2, AS10UNK2, and AS11UNK9, indicating they were all likely produced by the same unknown manufacturer. This is the first 4" high vintage Apollo 8 patch that I've seen with a black border.
Unknown manufacturer patch [AS8UNK3]
This vintage Apollo 8 patch has a distinctive vertically-elongated shape.
3" Embroidered Mission Patches
Footnotes
[1] Examples of crew patches identified as flown on the mission:
Aurora Space Memorabilia auction Fall 2004 Lot 272A was a crew patch explicitly identified by Borman as having been carried on the mission.
Heritage Space Memorabilia auction Fall 2007 Lot 25096 was a flown patch of this kind mounted with a flown flag. The whole presented by Frank Borman.
Heritage Auction Dec 6, 2024 Lot 50036 sold at $17,500 Flown crew patch on crew-signed presentation.
Heritage Auction Dec 6, 2024 Lot 50037 sold at $18,750 Flown crew patch & flown US flag.
[2] Examples of crew patches sold at auction:
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.
eBay item no. 290658567655 Jan 22 2012 sold at $361.66, lot of 15 patches including one Apollo 8 crew patch. This values the Apollo 8 patch alone at perhaps $300.
eBay item no. 160788373183 May 3, 2012 sold at $1,113.88 (mounted on wooden shield, ex Hal Collins)
RR Auction lot 256 Apr 22, 2014 sold at $530.43 (mounted with Anders ISP, missing a letter)
RR Auction lot 260 Apr 22, 2014 sold at $1,141.70
eBay item no. 151550465612 Feb 1, 2015 sold with multiple crew patches
eBay item no. 152945223342 Mar 21, 2018 sold at $1,599
Lunar Legacies Space Auction lot 258 Oct 13, 2018 sold at $793
Etsy auction March 2020 sold at $1,750
Heritage Space Auction lot 50069 May 22, 2021 sold with multiple crew patches from Chris Kraft collection
[3] Examples of flown & unflown AS8UNK3i3 patches sold at auction:
Heritage Space Auction lot 41049 Apr 1, 2009 sold at $2,390 [FLOWN by James Lovell]
Heritage Space Auction lot 40379 Apr 18, 2013 sold at $2,868 [FLOWN by James Lovell]
eBay item no. 391978878263 Feb 13, 2018 sold at $99.99
eBay item no. 112916514663 Apr 6, 2018 sold at $249.99 [buy-it-now]
eBay item no. 263672898664 May 10, 2018 sold at $169 [buy-it-now]
eBay item no. 372361281598 Jul 10, 2018 sold at $99.99 [buy-it-now]
eBay item no. 401557068151 Jul 23, 2018 sold at $165 [buy-it-now]
eBay item no. 401630475372 Nov 17, 2018 sold at $30 [best offer]
eBay item no. 202704024329 Jun 10, 2019 sold at $27.10
eBay item no. 123880088846 Aug 19, 2019 sold at $40- [with MFA coin]
eBay item no. 123881912877 Aug 21, 2019 sold at $30
eBay item no. 123880881806 Aug 24, 2019 sold at $50- [with MFA coin]
eBay item no. 123885825523 Aug 26, 2019 sold at $50- [with MFA coin]
eBay item no. 123893465765 Sep 2, 2019 sold at $57.90 [with MFA coin]
eBay item no. 373271546931 Oct 16, 2020 sold at $29.99
eBay item no. 256876710104 Apr 6, 2025 sold at $55.00
American Space Museum auction lot 210 May 3, 2025 sold at $218.75 (2 examples)
[4] Examples of Space Spin-Off Ltd. patches sold at auction:
eBay item no. 131025305205 Oct 27, 2013 sold at $103.50
eBay item no. 131417350484 Feb 6, 2015 sold at $79.25
eBay item no. 141604989003 Mar 21, 2015 sold at $15.69
eBay item no. 273940143410 Jul 27, 2019 sold at $55
[5] Examples of unknown manufacturer [AS8UNK1] sold at auction:
eBay item no. 264481108176 Oct 3, 2019 sold at $72
eBay item no. 153684966263 Oct 14, 2019 sold at $62
eBay item no. 184117610079 Jan 13, 2020 sold at $77
[6] Examples of unknown manufacturer [AS8UNK3] sold at auction:
eBay item no. 256876655176 Apr 6, 2025 sold at $75