Pennant materials

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Even the many mysteries surrounding them was intriguing--I love to tell the story of my several stages of knowledge of the best way to get the older, softer, pennants into a plexi holder--perhaps I'll make a post on that subject and see how those on this forum do it!

So, getting back to the pennant in question, where are we? Does the stiffer material strongly suggest a later date, as in 1960s, or were pennants being made of that stiffer, thinner, stuff in the 1940s and 50s, also? The later Ad Flag pennants had thinner paint, it is said, but the paint on this one seems quite substantial, does that tell us anything? It's clear that the graphics don't help, but I would like to know if this is a repro of an earlier version made with a different, more substantial material, or just the preference of an Ad Flag artist for creating an antique scene for a then-modern pennant c. 1960 or so.

To you first point, Hank, I "bulge" the holder as much as possible and push a dowel toward the tip and try to pull it in rather than push it in. My moth eaten Cinderella Boys was quite the challenge. I generally prefer the soft sleeves, but that's just me.

To your second point, it is my opinion that stiffer, synthetic "felt" always points to mid to late 60's and later. That said, I have know idea if your Packers pennant is a repro or just something Ad Flag decided to make at the time. To muddy the waters even further, I'm not sure I have any (Giants) Ad Flags that are not soft felt.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

To you first point, Hank, I "bulge" the holder as much as possible and push a dowel toward the tip and try to pull it in rather than push it in. My moth eaten Cinderella Boys was quite the challenge. I generally prefer the soft sleeves, but that's just me.

That was my first stage, for years, before learning to tap them in a little at a time on a concrete or other hard floor, which worked well for all but the softest felts, which could be a challenge. I did that for years before someone at a National took me to the final stage, which was placing the pennant on a "carrier" plexi pennant holder, putting them both as far into the "receptacle" pennant holder as possible (about 2/3 of the way), then pulling the carrier holder out and using the aforementioned tapping method to get the rest firmly seated all the way. Works like a champ every time. I love the hard plexi, both for appearance and protection.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

To your second point, it is my opinion that stiffer, synthetic "felt" always points to mid to late 60's and later. That said, I have know idea if your Packers pennant is a repro or just something Ad Flag decided to make at the time. To muddy the waters even further, I'm not sure I have any (Giants) Ad Flags that are not soft felt.

I'm thinking there must be an alternative to this theory, as in maybe they weren't made by Ad Flag at all. There are just too many pictured on the Football Felt forum, even just in the Packers section, including my example, that look to be made of the stiffer material but also look to be considerably older, even accounting for throwback graphics, than anything I've seen from the mid to late 60s. Several posters have suggested 50s for mine and these others, and that sounds--and more pertinently--looks about right to me.

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

To you first point, Hank, I "bulge" the holder as much as possible and push a dowel toward the tip and try to pull it in rather than push it in. My moth eaten Cinderella Boys was quite the challenge. I generally prefer the soft sleeves, but that's just me.

To your second point, it is my opinion that stiffer, synthetic "felt" always points to mid to late 60's and later. That said, I have know idea if your Packers pennant is a repro or just something Ad Flag decided to make at the time. To muddy the waters even further, I'm not sure I have any (Giants) Ad Flags that are not soft felt.

Paragraph #1: I have luck putting the pennant about half way in and with the holder vertical, tapping the tip of the rigid holder on the floor (carpeted preferably as tips of the holders do break) to get the thinner pennants to slide in without wrinkling. Sometimes it takes several, two steps forward one step back interations to get it to go in cleanly but it always does. Also seen it done by sandwiching the thinner pennant between two stiff, thin modern pennants, then pulling the modern pennants out quickly. Though I haven't done that one myself.

Paragraph #2: 0% chance it's a repro unless it was a repro made in the 1950s.

[thetahat]

I agree, not a repro. I’ll include another thing about AdFlag. Quality control plummeted in the 1960s. Their newer pennants are notorious for being poorly cut and stitched ... crooked edges and sometimes the spine would be noticing off the edge. This Packers pennant doesn’t seem to have those issues.