Many of us use bleach. Yes, bleach. :eek:

If you post a picture of your Tigers pennant, some of us could probably give you pointers. Certain inks seem to be not affected by bleach, while others are a recipe for disaster.

Thanks for the help. Here's a photo of the Tigers pennant. I'm also waiting on this Yankees Team Photo pennant to be delivered. I think it's a 1963 version. It's in even more need of a good clean.

Not sure I would risk bleaching that Tigers Pennant. It's just not that bad, and the orange paint could conceivably bleed. Maybe Rob/Rob knows better, but I would err on the side of safety.

As for the Yankees... you'd need to carefully remove and re-apply the photo after bleaching. That one might be worth a try, as it's looking pretty rough, and is perhaps worth the risk. Perhaps Rob/Rob can chime in about the potential of red paint bleeding on that one.

I am not really a fan of the alterations being discussed. I have done it on rare occasion, and always disclose exactly what was done (if selling). But even then, who's to know what gets disclosed after the pennant changes hands a few more times? Therein lies the problem...

Trimming of the tip to form a point is probably the most prevalent alteration with vintage pennants, and is usually quite easy to detect if you know what to look for.

Cleaning a pennant is fine. Cannot even count how many times I've used scotch tape to lift off excess dust, debris, and especially pet hair. I think 75% of the pennants I've recently acquired have cat or dog hair inter-woven into the felt. If you have no propensity towards OCD, then nevermind and carry on. :o

Hey Gary - what follows are pictures of some bleach successes and one major disaster (the only one I've had). Two pennants had orange ink and were fine. The 1962 pennant has magic marker on it and a terrible tip but I don't think I've seen another in white. Two had blue and they were also fine. The red was a disaster. I drew the graphics back in with a sharpie and gave the damn thing away.

I always tape off the spine and hang them vertically on my shower wall. Spray with bleach and saturate with clean water very shortly after (a matter of seconds). Some other guys use 20%, 40% or 60% bleach to water for the initial spray. I have always used straight bleach but a watered down solution is probably a good idea.

If it were me, I'd try the Tigers pennant because I've done OK with orange. I think the red ink on the Yankees would rule it out. It's too bad because that pennant could really use a good cleaning! :p

The only thing I'll add to the pennant alteration discussion is that one reason to collect pennants is for display. Cleaning them up can make them display better. I feel like it is ok to try to improve one that is in terrible shape anyway (unless is very rare, historically important, very valuable). If they are really dirty, they just don't look good on the wall.

But I've also learned that it can be very hard to make them look better. I think I've clearly improved (for display) maybe 2 of the 5 that I've tried to clean. I probably ruined one. And the other two ended up with improvement in one area, but some equal damage/color bleeding in another.

I would probably leave the Tigers pennant alone, but maybe try to clean the Yankees (It's pretty dirty). You just have to know that it might be a total loss (see Rob's red Giants batter).

As for Kyle's original question, tough call. I think I'm ok with a disclosed alteration that can be reversed (e.g., replace a missing tassel), but info about those alterations probably gets lost over time, which is a problem.

Thanks guys.

Well, what I lack in patience - I make up for in foolishness. :)

I found the posts earlier in this thread about cleaning pennants and decided to give it a go because the Tigers pennant is fairly cheap and I wanted to practice. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

What may not have been obvious from the "before" photo was some pretty bad discoloration above the tiger and at the tip.

I covered the spine and laid the pennant flat in the bath and then sprayed the bleach. Then I ran it under the faucet to rinse it off. I think next time, I'll tape it on the shower wall like Rob suggests. The black ink ran a little bit, but as others mentioned I used copious amounts of water and that rinsed off with no problem.

I think I've now achieved blissful over-confidence so I'll probably gamble with the Yankees pennant. The photo on the pennant looks to be fastened with staples so I don't think it will be too tough to get if off for cleaning.

Looks like a huge improvement, to me. Good job!

I'll cross my fingers for the Yankees pennant but I'm a little fearful.

I agree, the Tigers pennant looks good.

Nice work! Especially for a first attempt.

Definitely improved the appearance. One thing I have noticed (from the few times I've used bleach) is that it can "thin" the felt. It can break down the fibers and compromise the felt, with varying degrees of severity. Sometimes it's not even noticeable, but other times it's a definite bummer.

So if you do attempt the Yankees, please let us see the "after" photos, and let us know how it came out. Taping it vertically to the shower wall and prompt rinsing is definitely the way to go.

Giants
 

Hi All,
So I was luckily able to pick up this one albeit with a missing 1/2 inch of the spine. It was hanging for decades in a den and the pennant itself is in fantastic shape with great color. You can see what color of the spine should be where the thumbtack was removed. I didn't really want to mess with it but would you guys try the bleach solution on this spine? Or a little light soap and water?
Thanks!
-Andy