Snow Valley Snowman Patch, Felt — c. 1950s-60s

A vintage Snow Valley ski patch from Manchester, Vermont, estimated to date from the 1950s or early 60s, cut to the outline of its own artwork — no border, no field, just the shape of a snowman standing on a cloud, die-cut from cream felt. He wears a red knit hat and a red scarf, holds a pair of skis upright in one mitten, and Snow Valley runs in red script through the cloud beneath him over MANCHESTER, VERMONT.

Felt puts this early — the fifties or the early sixties, before twill took over and patches started looking machine-made. Felt behaves differently with age. It does not fray so much as soften and go slightly powdery at the edges, and the colors do not crack, they just quietly leave.

Snow Valley closed in 1984. The lifts came down, the trails filled in, and the public face of a ski area that ran for four decades now consists of a cheerful snowman on a piece of wool, standing there with his skis, entirely unaware.

There is something about mascots from dead mountains. They were drawn to be reassuring — to tell a nervous eight-year-old in the lift line that this was going to be fine. The mountain is gone and the snowman is still doing his job.

Felt patches are also considerably harder to find in good shape, because felt does not survive a washing machine, and a great many of them went through one on a jacket.

Chain-stitched on felt, die-cut to shape with no applied border. Photos are the condition report.