Quote:
Originally Posted by Fballguy
Any thoughts on this one? Baseball or travel? The Tiger on the label seems too coincidental, no? Was this a logo of The Reproduction Company?
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It's a legit Reproduction Co. label. In fact, I can date this specific label to ca. 1914. They used it on plenty of travel/souvenir and special event pennants manufactured during the mid-1910s.
For some reason, this company, which was based in Manhattan (and later, Brooklyn) really liked tigers. Of the four labels I've found of theirs used between 1908-1921,
two featured tigers: one with a full body of a tiger; the other with only the head.
Unfortunately, I believe it's just a coincidence that there's a tiger on this "Detroit" pennant's label. I'm pretty sure this is a travel/souvenir pennant. They made a lot of these for many cities and states. They mostly all looked like this "Detroit" pennant, down to the same Gothic font. Usually, these were 100% screen printed; but, some, like this "Detroit" pennant, featured sewed letters.
The Reproduction Co. did make two known professional baseball pennants; however, unlike their travel/souvenir pennants, each were
undeniably baseball pennants; and, both were made closer to 1910. As you'll see, they don't resemble the "Detroit" pennant at all. Here they are below....