Legendary pennant question
 

The pennant below is offered with the following description:

"...Although the exact year of the 25"-long memento's production is uncertain -- a good approximation would be 1905 -- its "Cub with Staff" design definitely predates the 1908 team uniform's "Cubbie" rendering."

What is their basis for saying that? Absent hard evidence, I find it hard to believe that this pennant pre-dated (by 3 years??) the very similar 1908 logo.

They have little-to-no basis for saying that, but it is probably a decent estimate. I've collected a lot from this era, and would say this one could range between 1900 - 1915. There is really no way to pinpoint it any further.

These pennants were not licensed back then, and the logos were not precise. Sometimes, it's just an artist's conception of what a Cub logo should look like (and nothing more). Based on the style and graphics however, 1905 is probably a decent guess (with emphasis on the word "guess"). Hope this helps...

perezfan - thanks for the info and the insight.

I probably was not clear enough on the point I was making. If you've seen some of my previous posts - I often do not like the way some auctioneers described their offerings. In this case Legendary knows full well that the logo worn by the Cubs in 1908 was not used by them prior to 1908. Then they show a pennant with nearly the same logo - and they date it to 1905. IMO they are trying to imply that this pennant was in some way an early "prototype" to the first Cubs logo to appear on a uniform.

Would this enhance the value of the pennant - perhaps. Absent hard evidence to the contrary (which I seriously doubt they have) - this pennant has to be post - 1908 and derived from that year's logo - they are just too close in design to think otherwise.

I truly admire the way you guys go through these auctions to find these "mistakes." You provide a much needed service to the hobby.

These guys (Legendary) and a few more are masters of hyperbole and far too willing to stretch anything they can to their benefit.

To me, reading these descriptions, and trying to fix them, is like trying to pick flysh#@ out of pepper.

I'm glad you do it.

Jim VB,

>>I truly admire the way you guys go through these auctions to find these "mistakes." You provide a much needed service to the hobby.

Thanks Jim. Actually - I look at the stuff primarily for other reasons, but I do hope people will become more skeptical of the descriptions.