1938 Cubs Pennant
 

Did someone on here bid on this? There is no way this pennant is from 1938.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296927751925

Wow, that really picked up at the end. The purple is the one that just sold for $1,200+. The Red one, which is clearly much older, is on Worthpoint. My gut reaction was that the purple was much newer, but I have to admit that I gave it a long questioning look. With things like this, I also always wonder why there are not more examples if it truly is a reproduced/modern version. Why bother to make it if you are going to make so few?

I too questioned whether the purple one was really from 1938. The final price shocked me but then I guess several people were convinced it was original and just in very good shape.

Based on appearance in the pics alone, I’m on the fence. The graphic is spot on identical. With a repro you can usually see differences but not here. But the creasing is odd and it didn’t crack the paint. Most notably, the stitching on the back is unusual for a pennant that old, although it’s similar to “Epstein”. It actually resembles a Keezer as far as how it was stitched and the appearance of the tassels.

Obviously it will take a collector 0.1 seconds to know for sure upon holding it.

The creasing is what screams “synthetic crap” to me. When did the Worthpoint one sell, Marc?

Another significant difference is how close/far the stitching is to the edges of the spine. That suggests these were not made at the same time.

Having sold the authentic red one not too long ago, I can assure you that Jason is right. The red one had that super thick, lush, soft vintage felt and a much different spine. The purple one is very clearly cheap modern synthetic and is not of the era.

Not sure how or why it was replicated, but whoever did it somehow pulled off the graphics flawlessly.

Well now it will be interesting to see if the winner returns it after examining it in person and if it pops up again on eBay.

The red one looks as a pennant from that era should. The stitching, suppleness, and wear all look the part. The graphics have that 80 year crackle look to them. To me, this does not appear to be a modern repro, rather a late 60’s version of the original. I have bought from that seller before and I don’t believe there was any nefarious intent, just a mistake.

I agree, this isn’t modern. The felt does look more like a 1960s Trench … thin but not stiff. But if this was old soft felt, and stored away folded for 70 years, it would likely show similar creases, wouldn’t it? And I can’t get past the identical screening. I can’t see even the slightest aberration. I’m like 60/40 in favor of fugazi. It’s an odd pennant to remake and who was doing that in the 1960s?