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Blackhawks Crest


schulzmc

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I posted a 95-96 Hawks authentic in the "arrived today" thread yesterday. One of the things I noticed as I was looking at the jersey last night was the size difference in the crest between that and the 97-98 Nike authentic i have. I also know the "facial expression" on the crest has changed over the years - smiling, more serious, etc.

Does anyone know of a resource that has charted the size and other changes to the Hawks crest over the years? I'd love to learn more!

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The size of the head itself definitely changed size from CCM to Nike. I'm not sure why but it absolutely did because I can remember comparing the two when I owned both styles. I also know that the tan outline around the head disappeared after the switch to Pro Player.

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The size of the head itself definitely changed size from CCM to Nike. I'm not sure why but it absolutely did because I can remember comparing the two when I owned both styles. I also know that the tan outline around the head disappeared after the switch to Pro Player.

Not sure about facial expressions over the years but my ccm ultrafils have a much smaller head than my reebok edges. I have my Koho getting done up right now and that may even be a tad larger than the reeboks.

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The head size/shape and expression have changed quite a bit over the years. Brilliant is right that the size was noticeably smaller prior to switching to Nike. That larger size has stayed around since. The face also started smiling when they switched over to PP during the 99/00 season. The smile has stayed around since too. I much prefer the non-smiling head.

here's a late 80's 'pin head'

photo1-vi.jpg

early 90's ultrafil, mid 90's Nike, late 90's Nike

photo1-vi.jpg

there was also a difference between ultrafil and airknit CCM

IMG_1855_1-vi.jpg

airknit

IMG_2011_1-vi.jpg

when Pro Player took over, they removed the tan outline around the face. You can also see the change in facial expression

IMG_1261_2-vi.jpg

shows how much larger the Nike crest is compared to the earlier CCM versions

IMG_1904-vi.jpg

the size of the head is still just as large on today's Reebok jerseys although the crest material is much thinner

IMG_1603_1-vi.jpg

a number of different versions. You can see how much larger the Nike head was (lower right)

IMG_2793-vi.jpg

That's probably one of the things I like most about the Blackhawks' logo. While it's stayed essentially the same over the years, there are a TON of variations of it. I'd argue a lot of this is due to the hand sewing that used to be done to the crests. Nowadays I'm sure it's all done by computers, but back in the CCM days there'd be people stitching up each one. Pretty cool.

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Sweet photos. I remember when I was inquiring about the Graham 1992-1993 it varied on the tilt of the crest back in the day as well.

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The crest also rotated slightly throughout the years although my Graham jersey is probably one of the more extreme examples I've seen.

Here are some other side by side comparisons.

early Nike vs late Nike. Notice the shape of the nose and how much flatter the late 90's Nike is

IMG_1489_1-vi.jpg

CCM ultrafil. lines in the hair are slightly different as is the nose and forehead

IMG_2948-vi.jpg

How the crest has changed in the past 20 years

IMG_1725_1-vi.jpg

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Here is the video I was referring to earlier about hand-sewing the crests. Looks like they still do it. I wish I knew one of these women. LOL!

One of the comments made on the video is pretty interesting and could explain why there is such a variance:

"The Blackhawk crest used to be embroidered locally near Chicago back in the '60s and '70s. More handwork was done then rather than completely off of a template. You could tell that one person did all of the crests for a particular season even though you could see a tiny difference here and there from piece to piece. Every two or three years, you could tell that another person was doing the crests because they rounded the nose or did the blue trim on the yellow feather a little different."

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  • 5 years later...

Already an older thread, but I recently purchased a white Pro Player Blackhawks authentic with tan outline around the crest, which should already have disappeared by then. Does anybody know if  that's kind of a common exception or just an awkward mistake? Thanks

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56 minutes ago, Pens4ever said:

Already an older thread, but I recently purchased a white Pro Player Blackhawks authentic with tan outline around the crest, which should already have disappeared by then. Does anybody know if  that's kind of a common exception or just an awkward mistake? Thanks

I've owned a white Hawks PP with a Nike style crest, so common exception I guess?

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Thanks for the quick help! Mine has a Nike crest as well and seems like that Pro Player got rid of some Nike leftovers at an early stage.

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On August 19, 2011 at 5:00 PM, mdwsta4 said:

The head size/shape and expression have changed quite a bit over the years. Brilliant is right that the size was noticeably smaller prior to switching to Nike. That larger size has stayed around since. The face also started smiling when they switched over to PP during the 99/00 season. The smile has stayed around since too. I much prefer the non-smiling head.

here's a late 80's 'pin head'

photo1-vi.jpg

early 90's ultrafil, mid 90's Nike, late 90's Nike

photo1-vi.jpg

there was also a difference between ultrafil and airknit CCM

IMG_1855_1-vi.jpg

airknit

IMG_2011_1-vi.jpg

when Pro Player took over, they removed the tan outline around the face. You can also see the change in facial expression

IMG_1261_2-vi.jpg

shows how much larger the Nike crest is compared to the earlier CCM versions

IMG_1904-vi.jpg

the size of the head is still just as large on today's Reebok jerseys although the crest material is much thinner

IMG_1603_1-vi.jpg

a number of different versions. You can see how much larger the Nike head was (lower right)

IMG_2793-vi.jpg

That's probably one of the things I like most about the Blackhawks' logo. While it's stayed essentially the same over the years, there are a TON of variations of it. I'd argue a lot of this is due to the hand sewing that used to be done to the crests. Nowadays I'm sure it's all done by computers, but back in the CCM days there'd be people stitching up each one. Pretty cool.

That's like the St. Louis Cardinals jerseys over the years, to the common eye always looked the same but there are many differences/changes year to year and manufacture to manufacture. So to customize with proper patches and players makes for a lot of research. I guess this kinda thing happens with almost every jersey out there, although teams like the Hawks and Cardinals and even Yankees  that everyone thinks nothing has changed when you really look at them your amazed at the amount of differences. 

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