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Old blue style USMC flags


tdurbinmas
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Simply gorgeous, reminds me of the 5th Marines and 6th Marines WWI vintage flags on display at the Marine Corps museum. Gorgeous artifacts.

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This seems to be the one that was on ebay a couple of times several months ago and didn't sell.

 

Steve

 

I did not see that one, but I did see a Washington DC area company selling reproduction blue Marine flags for something like $600.

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Yes, Bob. At the time this flag was listed, I also found out about that. That's why I think it didn't sell.

 

Steve

 

The fake/repo I saw seemed to have printed appliques instead of embroidery.

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National Capital Historic Sales run by George Peterson is who is flooding ebay with I assume Asian made reproduction unit flags of all sorts (He is selling them as repros), but they do seem to be embroidered. Not to the same quality level as the originals, and not cheap either. I need to see what the tags look like. I saw a few at last years SoS I thought might be his work, but I needed to look closer and never got back to it.

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National Capital Historic Sales run by George Peterson is who is flooding ebay with I assume Asian made reproduction unit flags of all sorts (He is selling them as repros), but they do seem to be embroidered. Not to the same quality level as the originals, and not cheap either. I need to see what the tags look like. I saw a few at last years SoS I thought might be his work, but I needed to look closer and never got back to it.

 

That's what I saw...his look new and he sells them as BRAND NEW for $600 - $750.

 

The original seems to have much more detail:

 

nch1.jpg

 

nch2.jpg

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The San Diego Base Flag appears to be a 20s or 30s vintage piece. The fabric is very well preserved silk, still quite soft without any fractures. The yellow fringe also appears to be silk, knotted strands. The lined pole sleeve and leather tabs are consistent with QM made Flags although a label is not present. The embroidery is absolutely consistent with PQMD style, materials and quality. If anyone has photos of similar period flags Id love to see for comparison.

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I would think this San Diego Base flag has to be one of a kind and it's hard to imagine too many similar ones in private hands. I believe we had some discussion on the forum before about Marine guidon, regimental flags, etc never being released from the Corps except in rare cases.

 

The Spirit of 1917 recruiting poster :

 

flag2.jpg

 

flag.jpg

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The only unit flags you see released are unit guidons, usually framed gifts to commanders when they leave a unit. However, we usually purchase a new one from a shop out in town or the supply chain than give the actual guidon.

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Thus far, the evidence is looking pretty convincing that the OP's flag may be good. Still, I'm somewhat skeptical. As far as remarks here, and my own experience, we've never seen any evidence of this flag actually existing as a real base flag. This one popped up at the same time the Peterson flags did. While the quality is different, that's by no means conclusive. Do we have empirical evidence of it being actually used at the Recruit Depot? Bob, you live near San Diego. Perhaps you could go visit the museum/archive at USMCRD and see if they have any evidence of this flag existing. Should you find photographic evidence of it, that would certainly help.

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The topic fascinates me because your flag looks so cool, and there seems to be little online about the history of Marine Corps flags and colors.

 

Here a nice shot of what they call a "WW1" flag

 

6th1.jpg

 

6th2.jpg

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