Hibernian Thistle Crest

[Austinho]

I stumbled upon a few Hibs related memorabilia recently. A player card from 1956, and badges from the Cornonation Cup in 1953, Fairs Cup in 1960, and European Cup Quarter Final in 1956.

All of them feature a crest with a thistle and HFC written across them. I’ve never seen this crest before, but appears to have been in use from at least 1951 to 1963 - that’s at least 12 years over one of the most important periods of our club’s history.







What’s the story with this crest, and why was it changed? What is the connection with Hibs and a Thistle, and why has it been completely forgotten about in our club’s history? Does the purple we sometimes use as our away kit originate from this badge? And did it ever appear on our shirts (the player card illustration seems to suggest it was).

I think it’s a crying shame it seems to have been erased from memory, and a Thistle would have been an excellent addition in 1999 when our current crest was introduced, perhaps in place of the ship or castle. Perhaps the club could release a commemorative shirt with the badge at some point.

[Brizo]

Don't know how the smiley above appeared but anyhow that's some great memorabilia.

Crests as such didn't appear on our strips or most clubs strips until probably the 70s. IIRC the first crest on our kit was the crown and football. 1 don't believe this Thistle crest ever appeared on a Hibs shirt.

Interestingly the crest which appeared on the Coronation Cup Final programme, at least one set of league winners medals and official club correspondence was the Edinburgh coat of arms amended to include a football and the title Edinburgh Hibernian FC.

In an era before football merchandising / brand copyrighting there wouldn't have been the need for the club to be restricted to the use of one emblem. And of course the original harp crest remained above the main stand entrance until the mid 50s, although it was no longer used to represent the club on a day to day basis.

From the end of WW2 the club was very clearly trying to give itself a more Edinburgh and Scottish identity, so both crests tie in with that move.

There are various suggestions why it happened then.

Post war, football was booming and this combined with the emergence of the FF attracted tens of thousands of new fans to ER. Most of this new fanbase had no connections to the clubs origins so giving the club a stronger Edinburgh / Scottish identity would recognise the change in the make up of the support. The ROI had been neutral during WW2 and moving from an Irish crest to a stronger Edinburgh / Scottish identity would be appreciated by those returning from the War or who'd lost loved ones in it. Also the post War Board no longer included anyone with links back to the clubs origins so they possibly didn't have the same emotional attachment to the harp that previous Boards had.

We had a cracking 1875 to 2015 harp "heritage" top out to commemorate 150 years and could possibly be a money spinner for club to bring out limited edition Toffs style Thistle or Edinburgh coat of arms heritage tops.

[southern hibby]

Two things I’ve noticed.

1. The queen Elizabeth ll Cup pin badges in 1953 have THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB. So even back then they knew what was in store for the Zombies.

2. One of the pin badges has Hibernians Edinburgh with HFC in the
Middle. We’re we ever called Hibernians and if so when did we become Hibernian Football Club?


GGTTH

[The Harp]

The thistle appeared on supporters scarves but, as far as I'm aware, wasn't official. I still have a scarf from the late 50's with 4 components: thistle, castle, a ball and a lion. Another scarf from around the same time has a crest depicting a harp and a ball. I much prefer the latter.

[LancsHibs]

Thanks for sharing, very interesting. It seems the Thistle is a bit of a forgotten badge!

[CentreLine]

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The thistle appeared on supporters scarves but, as far as I'm aware, wasn't official. I still have a scarf from the late 50's with 4 components: thistle, castle, a ball and a lion. Another scarf from around the same time has a crest depicting a harp and a ball. I much prefer the latter.

We need pictures of that 😃
With the quarter shield you have just described my first scarf and also a tie. Sadly they are long lost.

[worcesterhibby]

That's a weird looking Arsenal crest on the Coronation Cup enamel badge.

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

Huns badge says The Rangers.

[CropleyWasGod]

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Two things I’ve noticed.

1. The queen Elizabeth ll Cup pin badges in 1953 have THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB. So even back then they knew what was in store for the Zombies.

2. One of the pin badges has Hibernians Edinburgh with HFC in the
Middle. We’re we ever called Hibernians and if so when did we become Hibernian Football Club?


GGTTH

We became The Hibernian Football Club Limited in 1903. Presumably, we were The Hibernian Football Club, or similar, before that. Lugton's books will tell you all that.

[BILLYHIBS]

Cmon the Jags!

Na disnae sound right.

Cmon the Hibees!

Better 😁

[southern hibby]

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We became The Hibernian Football Club Limited in 1903. Presumably, we were The Hibernian Football Club, or similar, before that. Lugton's books will tell you all that.

Cheers will look up the books as I’m now curious to see if we were called HibernianS

GGTTH

[BullsCloseHibs]

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I stumbled upon a few Hibs related memorabilia recently. A player card from 1956, and badges from the Cornonation Cup in 1953, Fairs Cup in 1960, and European Cup Quarter Final in 1956.

All of them feature a crest with a thistle and HFC written across them. I’ve never seen this crest before, but appears to have been in use from at least 1951 to 1963 - that’s at least 12 years over one of the most important periods of our club’s history.







What’s the story with this crest, and why was it changed? What is the connection with Hibs and a Thistle, and why has it been completely forgotten about in our club’s history? Does the purple we sometimes use as our away kit originate from this badge? And did it ever appear on our shirts (the player card illustration seems to suggest it was).

I think it’s a crying shame it seems to have been erased from memory, and a Thistle would have been an excellent addition in 1999 when our current crest was introduced, perhaps in place of the ship or castle. Perhaps the club could release a commemorative shirt with the badge at some point.

I once found that badge (bottom left) on the terraces at Parkhead of all places. I still have it to this day.

[Austinho]

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Don't know how the smiley above appeared but anyhow that's some great memorabilia.

Crests as such didn't appear on our strips or most clubs strips until probably the 70s. IIRC the first crest on our kit was the crown and football. 1 don't believe this Thistle crest ever appeared on a Hibs shirt.

Interestingly the crest which appeared on the Coronation Cup Final programme, at least one set of league winners medals and official club correspondence was the Edinburgh coat of arms amended to include a football and the title Edinburgh Hibernian FC.

In an era before football merchandising / brand copyrighting there wouldn't have been the need for the club to be restricted to the use of one emblem. And of course the original harp crest remained above the main stand entrance until the mid 50s, although it was no longer used to represent the club on a day to day basis.

From the end of WW2 the club was very clearly trying to give itself a more Edinburgh and Scottish identity, so both crests tie in with that move.

There are various suggestions why it happened then.

Post war, football was booming and this combined with the emergence of the FF attracted tens of thousands of new fans to ER. Most of this new fanbase had no connections to the clubs origins so giving the club a stronger Edinburgh / Scottish identity would recognise the change in the make up of the support. The ROI had been neutral during WW2 and moving from an Irish crest to a stronger Edinburgh / Scottish identity would be appreciated by those returning from the War or who'd lost loved ones in it. Also the post War Board no longer included anyone with links back to the clubs origins so they possibly didn't have the same emotional attachment to the harp that previous Boards had.

We had a cracking 1875 to 2015 harp "heritage" top out to commemorate 150 years and could possibly be a money spinner for club to bring out limited edition Toffs style Thistle or Edinburgh coat of arms heritage tops.

Very interesting, great reply.

Is this the badge you mean?



There are thistles in the foreground, so possibly where they came from. Interesting we've had a deer, an anchor and a fair maiden as part of our insignia in the past.

[BILLYHIBS]

The first badge I remember on a HIBS strip was :
HFC
SCOTTISH CUP FINALISTS 1972

Cannae remember the result

[Austinho]

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The first badge I remember on a HIBS strip was :
HFC
SCOTTISH CUP FINALISTS 1972

Cannae remember the result

It'll be the 50th anniversary of our 1972 League Cup win in 4 years, would be cool to see the HFC script replace the crest on the kit for a season as a tribute.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Interesting OP … just shows even now that there are things about the club still out there a lot of us don't know about

There's no need IMO to ever mess with our badge again, we have got it bang on with all the aspects of the club including its origins in our current badge. We certainly don't need to add thistles or the like to reflect our Scottishness as seems to have been the idea with the thistle badge, its universally recognised that Hibs are a Scottish club.

[Brizo]

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Very interesting, great reply.

Is this the badge you mean?



There are thistles in the foreground, so possibly where they came from. Interesting we've had a deer, an anchor and a fair maiden as part of our insignia in the past.

Cheers.

That's it but as you can see much more basic version.

[Kato]

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Cheers will look up the books as I’m now curious to see if we were called HibernianS

GGTTH

Read Lugton, we have never officially been called Hibernians - just like Heart of Midlothian have never officially been called "Hearts".

[southern hibby]

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Read Lugton, we have never officially been called Hibernians - just like Heart of Midlothian have never officially been called "Hearts".

Cheers will do. I didn’t think we had been called Hibernians it was just with the pin badge that had me curious.

GGTTH

[BILLYHIBS]

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It'll be the 50th anniversary of our 1972 League Cup win in 4 years, would be cool to see the HFC script replace the crest on the kit for a season as a tribute.

I was at the 25th Anniversary Dinner at ER they kept a space at the top table for where Erich Schaedler should have been sitting.

[oneone73]

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I was at the 25th Anniversary Dinner at ER they kept a space at the top table for where Erich Schaedler should have been sitting.

We'll now need to keep a seat for Alan Gordon, sadly.

[Iggy Pope]

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We'll now need to keep a seat for Alan Gordon, sadly.

And Eddie Turnbull of course and also Johnny Hamilton.

[Iggy Pope]

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That's a weird looking Arsenal crest on the Coronation Cup enamel badge.

That was indeed their crest and was sculpted into the masonry above the main entrance to Highbury. Might even still be there as part of the development that took place as I think that facade was a listed piece.

[Diclonius]

The Arsenal badge looks utterly terrifying.

[Here’s Lucy!]

Some brilliant stuff there mate

[Iggy Pope]

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The Arsenal badge looks utterly terrifying.

The photo in the OP is a very poor representation of the actual crest which is basically a work of art.
Wee bit more info here. They’ve gone through a lot of variations as have we.
The Art Deco Gunners crest is iconic amongs Gooners and not the Masonic menace you see in that photo.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ar...wxE7aO9i4TW2M:


PS.
Not many of the Coronation Cup era crests on that photo are accurate representations of the club crests of the time. Newcastle for example had a far more ornate arrangement, so did the Huns. The photo looks like it comes from a dodgy Ukrainian eBay dealer selling a modern pin badge he’s knocked together as do most of them.

[madsen5]

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Very interesting, great reply.

Is this the badge you mean?



There are thistles in the foreground, so possibly where they came from. Interesting we've had a deer, an anchor and a fair maiden as part of our insignia in the past.

That's the Edinburgh crest it used to be
on the side of all the old buses and trams.

[Bristolhibby]

That Man U badge looks like the current Man City badge (but in red and black) with the stripes and boat to represent the canals.

J

[IberianHibernian]

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Cheers will look up the books as I’m now curious to see if we were called HibernianS

GGTTH

Maybe programme collectors can confirm that programme for our home match v Barcelona in early 60s said Hibernians v Barcelona ? Before my time but programme was reproduced and incorporated into one for match against Raith ( ? ) about 10 - 15 years ago in special edition ( to commemorate new stand perhaps ? ) . Can remember Mighty Hibernians flags being sold at Hampden in about 1980 ( probably 1979 finals ) but were certainly not official merchandise . On other threads about our history match reports from end of 19th century had us as Hibernians .

[Iggy Pope]

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Maybe programme collectors can confirm that programme for our home match v Barcelona in early 60s said Hibernians v Barcelona ? Before my time but programme was reproduced and incorporated into one for match against Raith ( ? ) about 10 - 15 years ago in special edition ( to commemorate new stand perhaps ? ) . Can remember Mighty Hibernians flags being sold at Hampden in about 1980 ( probably 1979 finals ) but were certainly not official merchandise . On other threads about our history match reports from end of 19th century had us as Hibernians .

There is plenty of evidence of the club being referred to as Hibernians. Dig out some 50s programmes and often the great Hugh Shaw refers to his team as such.
Recently, this programme sold on eBay for a few Bob. 1976 at that.
07A572D6-9DAF-483C-BF0A-4FA81431919F.jpeg