Mint 1939 Rose Bowl Pennant

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Posted By: CarltonHendricks

I was a John Buonaguidi's over the weekend. He recently got the most incredible 1939 Rosebowl pennant, U.S.C. vs. Duke. The guy John got it from, got it out of an estate in the Monterey Bay area....mint condition!

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

That thing is amazingly well preserved. Looks like it was cut, and sewn together just yesterday. If this one was on ebay, I would have thought "repro" for sure...

Interesting that it was made AFTER the bowl game, as evidenced by the score being part of the pennant.

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Posted By: Mike H

The felt doesn't look aged at all. Are you 100% sure it's good Carlton?

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Posted By: CarltonHendricks

Mike H,
I first heard about this pennant while talking to John Bunoguidi on the phone. John was very disappointed it was sold already when he saw it. A tennat of John's there in Monterey CA, Mike Pitchke had sold it on eBay, but never got the money so John was elated to get it.

Mike who has an antiques store on Lighthouse Ave in Monterey, is an eBay mega-seller, eBay handle nadtzmaru10 , link http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnadtzmaru10 , as I write he has over 4,500 itmes listed on eBay!. He buys estates around the Monterey Bay area. I called John to inquire closer about the pennant but couldn't get a hold of him. I called Mike directly this afternoon to ask him about where he'd gotten the pennant. According to Mike, it turned out he'd gotten a bunch of USC items that belonged to a Jim Jones who played football at USC and was killed in WWII. Jim Jones' sister had his things and sold them to a guy Mike knows, and Mike got them from him. The sister thought they had no value Mike said. It turned out Mike got quite a few things of Jim Jones', and still has some, while some have sold on eBay. He has so much stuff he wasn't sure what he had left, but did have, or may still have, Jones' H.S. year book, a USC scrap book, a High school scrap book, his drivers license, some vintage USC luggage tags, a photo of him, and maybe more.

Mike told me Jim Jones was nick-named "The Emperor" at USC, and that he played for Howard Jones. I can't bring up anything on Jim Jones at USC on Google, so haven't been able to verify. However releasing this onto a forum full of researches will probably result in some kind of information.

That ball on the pennant looks too perfect to have been faked, and with this info, I think it's real...but boy I agree, it's in amazing condition!
-Carlton