Great info Domer, once again.

Here is my St. Mary's. Both of my kicked football series pennants (Santa Clara, St. Mary's) seem to be a bit higher quality than the typical football runner pennant now identified as Epstein. Perhaps they cost a bit more? I also can't help but notice how many different versions of the kicker there are given the small sample of pennants.

Joe, that Cornell pennant is beautiful. Never seen it before--thanks for sharing.

Marc, who knew there were so many variations of the Epstein punter, kicking the football across the pennant? Even when they used the same punter, they still altered him ever so slightly to enable the school name to fit on the tail-end of the pennant.

This likely won’t excite anyone given how plain it is, but I was psyched to pick this up recently. A quasi-farm club of the NYG in the 30s and 40s. I first started collecting pennants when I was still in school, mid-late 1990s and one of my first purchases was a shopping bag full of crumpled old pennants bought at a flea market. This was one of them, in slightly lesser condition. (This is not mint, either.)

At the time I had no interest in minor league pennants so I sold it not long after, and later regretted it. I especially like full-size minor league pennants now. Hadn’t seen this again or ant JCG pennant until this one …

Having grown up in NJ, I think it’s tremendous!

Me too – That Jersey City is awesome!

Made an old-fashioned trade of pennants and pinback buttons and came away with this beauty. The Yankees pennant I believe is from the 50’s.

As part of my trade, I also picked up this small Yankees pennant. Reminds me one ones I've seen attached to pinback buttons but I couldn't find an example when I searched. Does it look familiar to anyone?

My little Yankees pennant has been identified as a 1952 to 1962-ish pennant from the Tom’s Peanuts set.

Picked up a small lot of pennants recently, the prize being this well-loved 1978 All Star game pennant featuring the Padres’ swinging friar.

Another recent pick up. Living in Richmond, Va. since 1997, I’ve seen two minor league baseball teams come through and there were teams here before that. I’ve provided security for both the Richmond Braves (AAA) and the Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA), so I’ve developed an interest in minor league memorabilia.

This minor league AAA Omaha Royals pennant caught my eye so I picked it up. It’s seen better days but I think I can clean it up some. Omaha was a member of the American Association from 1969 to 1997, so the pennant is at least 27 years old.

Here’s another great 1970’s pennant with the Padres’ Swinging Friar that I picked up in that same lot. Another candidate for a good cleaning.

That '78 All Star pennant looks really good to me. Not sure I would mess with that one. I would put it in the top 20% of those that have survived. That stiff white polyester felt was notorious for soiling, toning and browning.

Yours might benefit from bleaching, but looks pretty darned good as-is!

No bleach on the newer ones…..Oxyclean.

Bleach is for the older, soft ones. Have I taught you nothing? :p

It’s definitely in pretty nice shape for its age. I’m going to try out the OxiClean method on some lesser pennants but I think this one could still do well with a cleaning. It’s my first All-Star game pennant, so I definitely don’t want to damage it.

Seems like there’s a regular OxiClean and a whitening one. Do you remember which one you used?

These are the remaining pennants that I picked up this week in a lot. Nothing special, but I do like the ‘84 Padres one with the scroll of names. Sometimes you have to buy ones you don’t want to get to the ones you do want.

I wouldn't mess with the 78 All Star. It's not going to get much whiter than that. The risk outweighs the rewards.

Yes. That's what I was trying to say!

Ditto.

Embrace its patina.

Anyone have any tips on getting creases out?

Steam iron the reverse side only (medium heat). Keep the iron moving, and not in one place for too long. Practice on a couple of cheap/expendable pennants first, until you get the hang of it. Do not iron the front side.

Some turn out better than others, but ironing seems to work to a certain extent on virtually all all types of cloth/felt. Go easiest on the white pennants, as they will show brownish burn marks more easily than darker pennants. Keep that iron moving, and did I say not to iron the front side? :rolleyes:

Best of luck.... let's see the before and after results, once completed.

A couple of new arrivals.

It's my first Astros pennant. The price I paid for it was less than the cost of the toploader it came in. I do love a bargain. :)

Awesome pickups, Gary...

That Smoking Bum is truly a classic.

Yeah, those Astros Trench pennants don't sell for much at all. But a Colts from possibly one year earlier is easily in the hundreds.

I'm sure that many of us were watching this pennant sell on ebay this week. I was not a bidder. I'm curious how faded it is.

Well…They’re not called the Cincinnati Oranges. :)

What did it go for? Color me mildly suspicious.

If I'm spending that much on a pennant I want to physically see it, but that's me.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266718690331

Just stumbled across this forum recently in my never ending search for ABA pennants. I’m a big ABA collector. My apologies in advance if this is the wrong thread. I was looking for a for sale/for trade thread specifically for pennants but didn’t see one.

Anyway I’m WTB or WTT for ANY version of Spirits of St. Louis, the 68-69 Denver Rockets team photo pennant, or the late 60s teal colored Kentucky Colonels pennant. If you’ve got other ABA pennants you’re willing to sell/trade not mentioned here, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’d likely still be interested in buying even if I already own it depending on team and version. Happy collecting!

Mic drop! Curious if you like this one, Rob. I kind of don't.

I purchased the 1919 pennant. I went back and forth on authenticity as well. Seeing it in person was not an option so I took a chance. I will say some of the issues I had with it were satisfactorily answered. For example, one issue was no tassels (there is clear evidence of where there were once red tassels on the spine according to the seller). Once in hand I'll closely inspect and seek additional thoughts on it. If it doesn't pass muster, I'll work with the seller and Ebay to return it if needed.

I think it will be “good.” Not a red flag for me, but I’ve more often seen red fade to pink rather than orange. The fading is less than ideal but you take what you can get with 100 year old pennants. I hope you can post more pictures (back) when you get it in hand.

Oh I don't have any doubts it's legit. I was just making a joke about the color. But as Rob said...When it comes to 100 years old pennants, good luck finding a mint one. The seller also had a rare New York Titans pennant that sold pretty well...not baseball "well"...but football "well" anyway.

The aging/soiling strikes me as strangely uniform and unlike anything I've seen before, but I will defer to greater expertise.

I appreciate all insights on the pennant - thanks. I will post more/better photos when I get it.

I thought it was legit too. Here are pics of two others... and a Mitchell and Ness repro.

True. There are not a lot of exemplars to compare whith pennants this rare either, especially if it is a possible variation of the 3 or 4 known similar pennants. The seller says he has 350 more pennants inherited from the same relative. It will be interesting to see these other pennants when/if listed.

Wow! Tell the seller that he/she is welcome to come here and share!

Appears to be the same batter as the one reproduced in leather on various team pennants from the 1910s …

Thanks for adding those. I studied all three and compared it to the one selling as I'm sure you and others did. The "National Champions" and batter have more similarities to the 2 originals - the alignment of the feet and bat, the lettering. The "National Champions" is smaller than the other 3 (2 authentic examples plus the M&N repro). The one that just sold is obviously more worn so that makes a one to one comparison a little more difficult.

Very simiar to those - thanks for sharing.

He might want to... it could certainly help him.

Just to recap this since there was a lot of interest. The seller messaged me that due to a few concerns brought about by bidders and non-bidders in regard to the pennant's authenticity, including from me, he suggested having an appraisal of the pennant to which I agreed.

The batter looks “squattier” (more compressed) in the M&N repro.

As well as with the pennant in question...

And with the originals, the words “National Champions” arch higher above and further below the “Cincinnati Reds”. Which means it’s either a reproduction or that they used two separate silkscreens back in the day.

It would’ve been interesting to find out whether the graphics are painted/screened, or flocked (raised velvet).

The fact that it’s being evaluated by an AH is not the end all-be all. I have seen countless reproductions offered by the top/most respected auction houses, many of which were subsequently withdrawn. There are a handful of people here who’s opinion I value more than any AH. But I’m sure it will surface again somewhere if Mark doesn’t buy it.

Yikes! :eek:

I’m not sure about the “squattiness” of the batter, but I see what you’re saying about the more shallow arching. This is why my collection remains “low end.” :p

P.S. we never heard the final disposition of the 1918(?) Red Sox that we all felt was no good, did we?

That's a good point, Mark, about the AH not being definitive.

Interesting topic of discussion. I think there's also the possibility of it being a pretty good period reproduction. What's everyone's thoughts on that?

Meaning, like a 100 year old reproduction? I wasn’t aware anyone was doing that…

The spine doesn't match the Mitchell and Ness. But the scrunched graphics do a bit. I guess the spine could have been replaced. I'm curious about the color of the cut tassels. I did also see the rare NY Titans pennant from the same seller, mentioned by Rob. I know that having the Titans pennant doesn't mean that this Reds is real, but it sounds like these are coming from a serious pennant collection.