Pennant Collectors...How are they shipped?

[Kodi]

I've seen some of the beautiful vintage pennants that some of you display here, and I figure that all of them aren't purchased at shows or sales, where you can carefully carry your new baby home, avoiding injury.

That means, of course that you must await your new treasure once it is shipped to you by the vendor.

SO....how are these pennants (2-3' perhaps) packaged to get them safely to you? Do they arrive in boxes, envelopes? Are they folded, rolled, flat?

No matter how you GET one, how would you personally ship a cherished pennant to it's new home if you downsized your collection? :-)

[jcmtiger]

I sold many pennants in the past, always shipped between two rigid cardboard pieces.

Never had any complaints.

Joe

[vintagesportflips]

For newer, stiffer pennants, I ship them inside 2 flattened (unopened) larger priority boxes, and then tape a third unopened priority box at the middle where they join for extra support.

For vintage, soft felt pennants, I lightly roll them and ship bubblewraped in a box.

[keithsky]

Anytime I won a pennant in an auction or on Ebay I always ask the seller to please ship flat in between 2 pieces of cardboard. They usually have high enough shipping costs anyway so it does cover the cost. If they aren't willing to do that I don't buy it. One time I got one rolled up in a tube which came ok. The worst was some idiot that folded it 3 times and stuck it in a 8x10 bubble envelope

[Rob D.]

Rolling vintage pennants -- even loosely rolling them -- and shipping them in a tube or box is a bad idea. More often than not the printing suffers cracking during the process. Shipping flat between two heavy, oversized pieces of cardboard is the only way to go.

[cbcbcb]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

Rolling vintage pennants -- even loosely rolling them -- and shipping them in a tube or box is a bad idea. More often than not the printing suffers cracking during the process. Shipping flat between two heavy, oversized pieces of cardboard is the only way to go.

Do you tape the edges of the boxes together? I would be concerned that the felt could get stuck to the tape, but maybe that is too nitpicky and improbable.

[perezfan]

I never condone rolling or folding. The flat method described by jcmtiger is always best.

The Catalogue Auctions ALWAYS package/ship them this way. Ebay sellers only do it perhaps 40% of the time. Even when I specifically request flat shipment, I often receive them rolled or folded. Many ebay sellers put little or no effort into packaging, and opt for the cheapest method. I guess they feel it's a good decision to save $1.50 while jeopardizing a $500 pennant. I wish there was a criteria (1-5 stars) for packaging, as it is the second most important factor to me in rating a seller... accuracy of description being the first.

The reason pennants should never be rolled/folded is as follows... Even if the felt is soft (and capable of bending) the painted graphics can be extremely vulnerable. When the felt is bent or manipulated, the paint will crack, flake or pucker, and this devalues the pennant. On the very soft older felt pennants, the paint often just "sits" on the felt, and can easily become loosened/cracked if the pennant is bent too far.

Upon receiving your pennant, it should be framed (if valuable) or at least immobilized within a plastic cover. The rigid ones perform best, but it is possible to damage a soft pennant by trying to cram it in there. For the real "softies" you must use the soft (pliable) plastic sleeves.

If/when you hang it on the wall, you can then put the nails or tacks through the plastic (and not thru the pennant itself). I guess this all goes without saying, but a huge number of ebay sellers really don't get it.

The key is to limit the bending of the pennant... more so to protect the graphics than the felt itself. Hope this is helpful, and sorry for the long diatribe (you can probably tell this is a long-running pet peeve of mine).

[perezfan]

I probably started my "dissertation" before Rob, and as usual he beat me to the punch by keeping it brief.

You must tape the outer edges of the flat box, but be sure to allow at lest a couple of inches of space all the way around the perimeter of the pennant inside. Also... it's best to package the pennant inside a sleeve within the box. This will protect it from moisture as well as possible puncture. Plus, a blade is less likely to come in contact with the felt if it's encased in a plastic sleeve.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by cbcbcb

Do you tape the edges of the boxes together? I would be concerned that the felt could get stuck to the tape, but maybe that is too nitpicky and improbable.

I place the pennant in a plastic sleeve, then place it between two heavy pieces of cardboard, securing it with a few small pieces of masking tape. Then I tape the corners of the cardboard together. I place that package between two larger pieces of cardboard and tape all of the edges with packing tape. It might seem like overkill, but I've received enough damaged pennants that it's worth it.

[perezfan]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Below is a properly packed pennant. The plastic sleeve should be taped to the cardboard so it doesn't move around, and the box should be sealed + marked "Do Not Bend".

Here you go... not much left to be said, as I think we've now beaten this to death.

[Kodi]

Hey you may feel that the topic was beaten to death, but better that, than someone who has little knowledge of these things (like ME!) killing an excellent pennant that has lived a good life for 50 years or more!

Thank you for the very detailed instructions!

[vintagesportflips]

I should clarify what I said about rolling pennants to ship. The only pennants that I would ever do this with are circa 1910 to 1920 pennants that have sewn on lettering, etc. Anything with embossed or painted on graphics, I would never roll. I really don't see rolling sewn on lettered pennants as hurting them at all. I would never fold them in half, or anything like that. I was probably too vague when I said roll all vintage pennants though, that was not true at all.
I have received far too many pennants folded in half and inserted into a manilla envelope.
With all that said, shipping flat is obviously the best option regardless of the type of pennant.