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Old blue style USMC flags


tdurbinmas
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Some clarification. If you notice I posted a close-up photo of the reverse side of the flag. If you look at the original full-size photo the eagle is facing correctly in the continents are properly aligned. In the a close up they are backwards mirror image

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Some clarification. If you notice I posted a close-up photo of the reverse side of the flag. If you look at the original full-size photo the eagle is facing correctly in the continents are properly aligned. In the a close up they are backwards mirror image

 

"doh" - that explains the oddly rotated continents. Here is your flag and the one in the Spirit of 1917 poster, reversed.

 

fliflag.jpg

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And here is a close up I photographed earlier this year in the Marine Museum collection

 

 

It looks like your photo is also of the reverse side of the flag. They look very very similar dont they? Was there a tag or date marking on that flag?

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And here is a close up I photographed earlier this year in the Marine Museum collection

 

Clones huh? Here's the museum flag with the San Diego Base colors.

 

mus.jpg

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Base flag looks legitimate. That Corps color is beautiful. First one I have seen outside the National Geo illustration.

 

The globe-circling swirls on the Base flag and museum flag are also clearly seen in the flag in the Spirit of 1917 poster. I also took another look at the flag for the Training Station in San Diego: it was photographed behind glass and hard to see, but when I enlarged it and put it next to the others, it was easy to see it also had the gray swirls. They look as though they'd be hard to replicate.

 

SWIRLS.jpg

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  • 3 years later...
tdurbinmas

I really like this thread. It is the most definitive discussion on the old blue style USMC flags I've seen. As I have looked at more examples of hand embroidered flags from the early to mid 1900's there are subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) variations in the shading of the embroidery. This is even true with Presidential flags. Each embroiderer had a slightly different style with regard to shading. Eagle feathers, olive branches and details with the E PLURIBUS UNUM ribbons all have slight variations. They really are like individual paintings made of silk strands. The designs were stenciled onto the silk or rayon flag base material and then the embroiderer filled them in using detailed drawings or other flags to copy from. Each one turned out just a little different.  

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  • 4 months later...
  • 6 months later...
CW Appraiser
28 minutes ago, SgtMaddoxUSMC said:

No good.  Reproduction, possibly NCHS.

Flag is unquestionably original, I have cataloged over 200 flags in this estate including 20-30 other USMC flags WW2-1980s, all original. The quality of embroidery is consistent with other 1930s US military contract flags. Poulin is among the few auction companies that guarantees descriptions.
 

What makes you expert as to say “reproduction-no good”?  What is NCHS?

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