Extremely Rare 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers Brooklyn Bum "Three-Dimensional" Pennant

Sold For:

$3,851

Year:

1950

Auction:

2014 Spring

Lot #:

1222

Category:

Post-1900 Baseball Memorabilia

Presented is what to many collectors may be the single most unique and desirable of all pennants: The 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers "three-dimensional" pennant featuring the Brooklyn Bum. During the 1940s and 1950s, the image of the iconic "Brooklyn Bum" appeared on numerous Brooklyn Dodgers pennants. Offered here is the rarest and by far the most desirable of those incarnations: the three-dimensional example featuring a real wooden bat and cloth bag as part of the design. The blue-felt pennant features a colorful image of the bum holding a bat over his shoulder, with a sack tied to the end of the bat. The bum's image is painted on, but the bat, which is sliced in half, and the cloth that represents the sack are both separate, physical pieces. The bat slides under the bum's hand through a precut hole in the felt, while the end of the bat and sack are stapled to the pennant on the reverse. The lettering to the right of the bum reads "Dem Bums" and "Brooklyn Dodgers." This is the first example of this extraordinary pennant we have ever offered and we cannot recall the last time one was offered at public auction. Its extraordinary aesthetic appeal is equaled only by its remarkable condition. Aside from tack holes in the tip and each corner, the pennant looks exactly as it did when first issued, with no fading to the color of the felt, and only a few instances of tiny crazing to the painted letters and image. Near Mint in appearance and complete with its original tassels. 28 inches in length. This is a most extraordinary example of one of the "Holy Grails" of both pennant and Brooklyn Dodgers collecting. Reserve $1,000. Estimate (open). SOLD FOR $3,851