A unique and certainly one of a kind Army-Navy football game rally banner. Done on an 81 x 38 piece of heavy canvas, stenciled on the reverse “A. B. Shepard 318,” banner is divided into 13 panels, each bearing a color illustration by Shepard. Panels 1 and 7 bear similar images of a three-masted Navy ship moving down a football field toward the Army goal; panel 2 bears a close-up of a three-sail mast; panel 3 bears a ship’s wheel lashed to a compass direction of “V”; panel 4 shows the bow of a Navy ship just off an island with an officer standing on land; panel 5 shows a Navy cadet and several mathematical computations for a score; panel 6 shows a large Navy ship weighing anchor; panel 8 bears “Sink The Army,” in large letters; with panels 9–12 showing a projectile fired from a Navy cannon about to hit a soldier in a small boat. Panel 13 takes up a full third of the canvas and shows the hull of a ship at the top, several fish, including a hammerhead-type fish, labeled “Fulton” a mermaid waving two signal flags, with a word balloon reading “Blug Wug Burble means ‘BEAT ARMY” with a casket-shaped box on the ocean floor labeled “ARMY (Sunk!!).” In fine condition, with scattered toning and soiling. A one-of-a-kind item from Shepard’s time at the Naval Academy. Provenance: Alan Shepard House, Derry, New Hampshire. RRAuction COA.
