Any info on this Funeral car flag?

[MarrsCars]

Hi folks, I am looking for info on this item for my buddy who just picked it up. It's an older style funeral flag, canvas with purple ink, it is also stamped with what I assume is the funeral parlor's mark, not the maker of the flag. I had a few specific questions but welcome any additional info... when would this style have been used, also where would the thing clip onto a car, bumper? The clip doesn't open very far.

Thanks!

[CarlLaFong]

They are still around Rutland-Corwin Funeral Home, Inc.: About Us: History I bet they would love to have that flag. Furniture and funerals?!?!?!

These flags were attached to the bumpers of cars in the funeral procession. Today, mortuaries use windshield stickers instead

John.........former embalmer, current layabout

Edited September 12, 2012 by 58Mustang (see edit history)

[Seldenguy]

I don't want to see it on the bumper of my car!--Bob

[MarrsCars]

They are still around Rutland-Corwin Funeral Home, Inc.: About Us: History I bet they would love to have that flag. Furniture and funerals?!?!?!

These flags were attached to the bumpers of cars in the funeral procession. Today, mortuaries use windshield stickers instead

John.........former embalmer, current layabout

Thank you! By reading their "about us" page I see they only used that name during the 1930's, which is a great bit of info. It also makes a bit more sense why the clip is shaped like that, most bumpers were flatter in shape then and became more curved later of course. I enjoyed the bit about furniture makers also, I guess a coffin wasn't any harder to build than a bench back then.

I grew up next door to a mortuary so am pretty familiar in passing with professional cars and procedures, but this was before my time. Thanks!

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I saw a procession a few days ago where all the cars had flags on the front window so the flag was above the roof. This seemed like a great idea as cross traffic could easily see the cars in line going by intersections. The bottoms of the flag would be secured by the window rolled up trapping it into the channel. The subject flag could be clipped to a window in a similar manner.

[Restorer32]

The furniture store/funeral home combo was very common until just a few years ago. Up into the late '80s early '90s there were 3 such establishments within 5 miles of us, one owned by our family. All 3 have closed. The internet took the middleman mostly out of the furniture business and consolidation of funeral homes made stand alone single location funeral homes less efficient.

[MarrsCars]

The bottoms of the flag would be secured by the window rolled up trapping it into the channel. The subject flag could be clipped to a window in a similar manner.

This flag is larger than it might appear, I've seen those smaller window type and also magnetic base type to fit on the fender or roof, about 6-inches to a foot tall, but this one is about three feet tall and actually pretty heavy, it uses a fairly thick bar stock, so I don't think it would have been used on glass, would probably shatter it in a crosswind.