The Bears pennant definitely caught my eye. I don’t know much about football pennants but I see my share while searching for SFG stuff. My uneducated eye would have pegged it as 40’s-50’s and certainly not post 1965. Like Bocca, I think it would have been an odd style to copy later on. In the world of pennant mysteries, this is a good one.

edit: Rob and Marc - have you seen faded examples of this style pennant? The three shown all have great color, which would support post 1965. I’m leaning that way, anyway.

2nd edit: I just checked Rob’s fantastic football pennant site, feltfootball.com. Guru Rob also now thinks 1960’s. So my new question is, who the hell made these???

Thanks, guys! The pennants all were purchased from one person. Outside of the 1958 Giants, there were two other dated Orange Bowl pennants from 1957 and 1961. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3b87fb21bd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...563cb71402.jpg

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

It's not in my collecting wheelhouse, but those are some very cool looking pennants.

Did anyone see these 2 that sold recently? I was an underbidder on the NY Giants pennant but the price got too steep for me. What are opinions on the NY pennant, is it a 100% cert that it's from the Giants? The font looks different to what was on their uniforms in those days.

The Miracle Braves pennant is seriously cool.


https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?s...product.chain]


https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?s...product.chain]

Hanco used the design in the 1970s...for what that's worth.

The Bears looks old to me.

Funny how these are all very rare, but possibly so different.

The older ones seem to have the white spine and tassles.

Hanco
 

I'm leaning Hanco for all of them ... but, why wouldn't the Bears, Falcons, and 49ers versions have their maker's mark on them, as with this last one? They were definitely making sports pennants in the 1960s, when that Falcons one must've been made.

HANCO stood for Harmony Art & Novelty Co., and they go back to at least 1925 when they were classified as a pennant and pillow maker located in NYC.

This has maybe been discussed, but have Hanco baseball pennants turned up? Do I remember mini’s? Was Hanco prolific enough to warrant a write-up on pennantfever? BTW, I’m jonesing for more content on that site!

Even with the condition issues, the Red Sox pennant is crazy cool.

I could argue for or against the New York pennant being Giants. For: the Giants did wear purple and white for a time. Against: the NY is close, but not right.

More likely it’s New York University (NYU)

Here’s the same Braves pennant with inverted colors.

Speaking of...

Hanco
 

To my knowledge, HANCO just made this series of AL and NL minis from ca. 1965'ish....

Pretty poor quality, even for minis.

They were a vendor at the 1939-40 world's fair in NYC, so they likely made/sold some souvenir pennants there. Assuming so, I haven't seen any pennants from the fair bearing their maker's mark or label on it.

I haven't found too much on them pre-1960s. I definitely wasn't aware of these football pennants. I have to agree with the others: I would've pegged that Bears pennant as being from the 1940s.

It wouldn't be unprecedented that a design from the 1940s was re-used in the 1960s. Interesting too, at least to me is the evolution of the design over the years...the flags becoming more like flags, the fans in the stadium going from ink blobs to people....and the punter looking kind of Asian on the Rams pennant. The Rams must've been the latest in the cycle.

Here is an older and newer for the kicker for the same team. I like how the cleats and helmet have changed. Maybe it's technically a different design.

As for what we are saying might be HANCO pennants, the older ones (Bears, 49ers, I see Redskins on Rob's site, and probably others) are multicolored and designed well. Seems strange for a one off "series" from a maker known for the cheap minis (although the minis are multicolored as well) and Rob's NY Giants seems to be on the hastily made level as well.

That's a great observation, Rob. Could've just been HANCO's stock football artwork; and they just refined it over the years.

The only other baseball felt novelty item by HANCO was this felt figure pennant by them, ca. late 1970s, I believe....

So, they were likely supplying stadia with felt novelty items from, at a minimum, ca. 1960 - late 1970s.

These images have been discussed. They belong to a buddy of mine. I think he has dropped the price and I'll bet he'd take 8 bucks. Just putting it out there in case anyone would want them as a peripheral pennant item.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/40513599943...Bk9SR-67hvq1ZA

Timely post. I think these were made by the same company (HANCO?) as the minis that Domer posted. Also many of those football pennants posted including the 1958 playoff. Similar in design and construction.

That atrocity could have (rightfully) been Hanco’s death knell.

Gotta agree with that statement. I feel like I might turn to stone if I look at it too long. We should call it the Medusa of baseball pennants.

And speaking of unusual pennants, below is a link to a TSOG video we just released. A super oddball, but landmark pennant that you all might enjoy seeing (all but Greg, that is ;) )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6keJZXlXcBI

Pretty amazing that another one has never surfaced.

Yes … I owned this exact pennant, I can tell by the way it is cut. When I first started collecting, I was not long out of school, and I often bought off eBay and traded/sold to dealers at the Philly shows. I parted with this sometime around 2000-02. It ended up in great hands!

Michael’s had shadow boxes on sale again so I put some of my smaller pennants together. Have plenty of space to add more flair!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7df17be20e.jpg

Nice... lots of great variations there!

That’s an incredible pennant Mark

Thank you Jason...

It was just a case of right place/right time. I'm not sure exactly when Greg sold it, but I had seen it somewhere online and made note of it. It sold, but it struck a chord that I couldn't shake.

Then a couple of months later, it miraculously resurfaced (via a flipper, I guess) and that's when I snagged it. I've managed to not let it slip through my fingers, as so many others have. Thanks again, and hope all is well.

It's been quite on this thread for a few days so I thought I'd share a couple of recent arrivals.

Does anyone have any info about the Denny McClain pennant?

Love the McClain pennant….even though he pitched right handed. :p

I believe the Denny pennant was made during the 68 season or shortly after when he won 30 games, a record that will probably never be broken. There is also a tigers pennant with just a photo of Denny on it similar to the Mark Fidrych pennants the Tigers produced.

Thanks Stephen and Rob.

If anyone has any info about the manufacturer of the McLain, I'd love to know.

My 100% guess is that it was a local Detroit company, looking to “cash in.” Maybe someone who made high school pennants? It would be cool to know.

Here’s your chance, guys. I ‘ll stay out of the way.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14605684587...mis&media=COPY

Campaign pennants
 

Please enjoy my latest post over on Pennant Factory:

https://pennantfactory.weebly.com/bl...-1912-annin-co

This month, with the presidential election of 2024 bearing down on us, I thought we might briefly examine some memorable campaign pennants from the past century.

So, these'll be non-sports pennants. I hope that's okay ;)

Enjoy!

Good stuff. Hake’s Auctions handle a lot of political pennants. I’m sure other auction houses do, as well, but I’m not on their mailing lists. :p

Good stuff as always, Kyle.

Here are some recent additions for me. Nothing spectacular, but all are less common (or even rare) color variations.

Here is a fun one. Somebody posted this pennant on Facebook earlier this week in both of the well known vintage pennant groups. They were asking for info about age etc. Some of us informed the poster that it was a great vintage pennant, made by the Reproduction Company. One of the group moderators literally "shamed" us for making such a suggestion, as the label says "reproduction" right on it. He then deleted the thread off of his board. Maybe after I posted a link to Kyle's great review/history of Repco.

It sold very quickly on ebay the same day as a best offer. The asking price was high (3500) so I'm guessing the offer was decently sized as well.

I was one of those told by a moderator I was wrong because the tag said reproduction. It’s a swhame someone with that that little knowledge is in charge.

Which Facebook Group was it? Really, the guy couldn't simply admit his obvious mistake?

The best part was he posted in his competitor's pennant group and directed people to his group "because they'd get better info there".

It’s Facebook. :roll_eyes:

Is it me or does the pennant read, "Mirhigan"?

Error pennant!

Stolen from your website, Kyle. Apparently, that was their lower case "c."

Whoa.... Don't know how I missed that!

Looks like Repco used this "c" for lower case R's consistently, as you point out, Rob. It's on many of their pennants, in fact.

Their lower case "R" was slightly different, as seen on this Univ. of Colorado pennant featuring their "Broncho Buster" artwork, copyrighted in 1909....

Odd.

It's those gothic fonts...they're a killer. :D

Still the RepCo pennants are very cool. And a great article on the political pennants Kyle.

Fake Packers pennant again
 

Forget Halloween, THAT'S scary!

From a 1961 D**gers merchandise brochure. Interesting, in that it shows the Giants Seals Stadium pennant and the Giants last played there in 1959.

They probably still had a bunch in stock and wanted to move them.

I have several Dodgers mail order catalogs, and that same pennant appears in them from 1961-1973 (maybe longer, but 1973 is the end of my run). They may still have some of those pennants left.

Rick

That’s crazy. It’s a pretty rare pennant, so I doubt they still had them in 1973. More likely, they just never updated certain pictures. Did you see my post in the “bobblehead” (hate that term!) thread? I never knew the Dodgers themselves were a point of sale for the weirdos.

Just for fun, here is a possible/likely lineage for this pennant, from stadium to stadium, and then to completed stadium. The upper deck at Candlestick was completed in the early 1970s. The earlier pennants are so much nicer.

Thought the font on the football pennant looked familiar. Who do we think made these?

Rob, I found a 1960 catalog, and the same Giant pennant (but no other non-LA teams) is there as well, so it was shown 1960-1973 (at least). I don't believe there was a 1958 first year in LA catalog as they were probably not yet selling through the mail, but the 1959 catalog shows this pennant (but no other teams):

Attachment 637256
Like I said above, the 1960 catalog is the first catalog to picture any other team (that Giants pennant), and also shows this Dodger pennant:

Attachment 637255

The 1961 catalog shows a different Dodgers pennant, the first picture pennant for the Dodgers. I don't have a 1962 catalog, but the 1963 adds a Yankees pennant next to the Giants.

From 1963-1973, they only show the same generic Dodgers pennant every year, and no longer show any variation. And while I have 7 1963 pennants, 6 are related to the WS, so wouldn't have been in the 1963 catalog, but the one I do have, below, doesn't match the Dodgers photo pennant pictured in the catalog. So if they quit updating for Dodger pennants, they certainly wouldn't have made changes for the other teams every year.

Attachment 637257

Rob, the weirdo nodders (they call them swivel heads in the catalogs) you are referring to are pictured in only 1960 and 1961, which probably accounts for their scarcity. Probably not a lot of parents were ordering these for their kids.

Rick

I believe these were both made by Epstein Novelty Co., of New York, NY.

Thanks, Kyle. I don’t know why my brain can’t keep the makers straight. If it’s not Keezer or WGN, I tend to be confused. Hell, sometimes I even have trouble identifying a Trench. :rolleyes:

Speaking of likely Epstein pennants, I am excited to have picked up two SF Seals pennants that were likely made by Epstein. The first is a 1945 roster pennant. The second was dated/painted 1946 by a fan, probably a kid in the 1940s. It had added white paint on the batter, on the bases, and in the script. It looked especially home done in hand. And the "6" in the 1946 was really bugging me. It was larger than the other numbers and looked janky.

I was able to remove most of the added white paint from the batter, bases, and script. Very satisfied with the result. I had a more difficult time with the 1946. Part of the issue is that the felt below the paint was more blue, due to missing out on 80 years of fading. I wish there was some way to completely remove all evidence of the 1946, but I don't think it is possible. I did not take the original picture (with paint), which is why the overall colors look a bit different.

Great pennants Marc. This is what makes pennants such an awesome collectible. So many out there like this that we are seeing for the first time. The “46” especially has incredible visual appeal.

Looks great, Marc! Which picture is more representative of the actual blue color - the before or after?

The darker color pic is closer to reality. The first may have been taken with a flash? I like both pennants, but the I prefer design on the 1946. I don't know what's going on with the Seal in the 1945 pennant. He looks bit alien.

The darker is better. Even though it’s been a looooooong time since I was a “kid,” I can’t imagine why a kid would decide to in-paint that pennant. Just bored, I guess. I’m glad you were able to remove his “work.”

Just got this group of American Knitwear/Keezer college mini pennants. In really nice shape.

Very cool Marc. Dig the mini Keezers.

This was a recent get. A rare WGN variation. Love collecting the Brownies.

Great pickup! Quite the graphic. :p

Looks like he made contact on his backswing … ?

It’s almost AdFlag creepy. :eek:

Very fitting graphic for the hapless Brownies. Awesome pennant though!

Thanks. The Browns did both pennants and jerseys extremely well.

Another recent acquisition. Never saw this before. The only commemorative Keezers I had seen are either Red Sox or Boston Braves related, which makes sense. This one doesn’t.

That thing really pops! Great pickup. You and bocca consistently take really good pictures (which is why you should be in charge of “the book” :p). I’m selling a couple of non-baseball items on ebay and finally realized my outdated iphone takes better pictures than my little Canon digital camera. I’ve posted a lot of pictures here where the Canon didn’t accurately capture the color. Orange is particularly bad and, well, you know….

Speaking of orange and Keezer, bocca’s oddball Keezer Giants is probably at the top of my most wanted list. I’m insanely jealous.

Nice Pirates, Greg. This keezer, as with the minis I just found, just all seem to look well made. Seems like they hold up well over time and are never really in tatters. About the Giants... there has to be another one out there, Rob.

And then there were two...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31585852393...mis&media=COPY

Wow! About an hour away from me. I going to try and find out more about where they got it.

I made contact with the seller who said he found it in a storage locker. Added there were a few other Cubs items but nothing of great value. Don’t know what he paid for the locker but I’m sure he did very well.

When I quit Corporate America (or it quits me), I'm going to become a full time picker/storage unit buyer. I love the hunt almost as much as the find.

My father in law passed away about three weeks ago. He had three storage units. 100% crap....unless there's a '52 Mantle buried in there. I'll make you a good deal.

Unsearched units only. Sorry Rob! :D

Looks great. But I noticed the seller has a feedback of 1. I would have been nervous buying a $5K listing.

I'd love to spend my days exploring flea markets, garage sales and storage units. Unfortunately I'm in the wrong country. I hope one day I can get a rmont long hoad trip with my wife. I don't know what she'll think about taking the trip a big cargo van. :D