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).
|