Fun with Flags

[George Thomas Wilson]

Fun with Flags

(I can almost hear "Sheldon Cooper's" before it.)

In Gary Arndt's discussion "Multiple Covers Same Issue," Mel De Vilbiss, collector par excellence and longtime member of the 'Corner, offered me some images of variations to the October 1917, Flag Issue for my discussion "Variations to the Covers of the National Geographic."  He provided me so much to work with, not only photos, but background information, that I just had to have a little fun with it.

The Flag Issue, covered in my expose' " 100 Years Ago: October 1917," was such a monumental effort, both in time and money that they had to combine the November and December issues into one double-issue.  The Society reissued this item for the Army and Navy as we were entering World War I, knowing how useful it would be considering how many countries were involved.  Knowing the conditions this magazine would face on the front lines, the special edition is printed on waterproof paper.  The back cover is identical to the front cover; there were no advertisements; and the spine is blank.  That is where my feeble knowledge ended, until Mel's gift.

I took six of the photos (3 front covers and 3 back covers) and cropped them.  Then I resized them, so they were about equal.  Then I had some fun combining them different ways.  First, I made a set of three Front & Back portraits:

I. The Original Issue

II. The Special Army/Navy Issue

III. A Third Variation in the Mix

This third variant has the front cover of the original, but the waterproof pages of the special issue.  It also has a unique back cover with an in-house ad for one of the Society's publications as opposed to the normal paid advertisement.

Mel mentions a fourth variant, but it is not a cover variant.  It has the same front and back covers as the original, but different internal advertisements, all from 1918.

Next, I wanted to produce an image suited for my list of variations, so I combined all three front covers together side-by-side.  For good measure (or maybe for farts and giggles) I made an image of the three back covers as well.

I. Front Covers

II. Back Covers

With the side-by-side comparison, it is easy to see that the third variant, while using the original cover, has some distinct features.  The text in the banners on the top border is larger in the original than the special, but the third variant's text size is the same as that of the special issue.  More interesting than that is the price in the lower right banner: on the original and special issues it is "$2.50 a Year" but on the third variant, it is "50c the Copy."

I'd like to thank Mel again for the images.  I'd be updating my Variations List soon.

Yours in Collecting,

Tom Wilson

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

It is always great working together Tom, you bring out the best of us with the details!

Kindest Regards,

Mel