Royal Palm turkeys

Frank Reese notified me of a Royal Palm Turkey situation. It's a rpoblem with the Standard that came to light when a Royal Palm Turkey, Ike, shown here, was awarded Grand Champion at the Ohio National show this year, http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/11/26/star_turkey.ART_ART_11-26-09_A1_LNFQ9JB.html?sid=101.

When Frank looked at the bird and compared it to the Standard, he found that the Standard requires a black band in the greater coverts of both toms and hens, a "double rainbow" of black on the tail. Ike, the winning bird, does not have such a second black band, the lack of which is specified as a disqualification. However, Frank does not know of any Royal Palm turkeys that have the second black band. He talked to other turkey people and none of their birds have a second band, either.

Researching the SPPA collection of antique books and magazines, I didn't find any photos from the 1920s and later, to document that second band, or the lack thereof. Most of the collection pre-dates the 1930s, though. The accepted date for development of the Royal Palm is 1938, in Florida.

Sam Brush of the APA has been notified and expects that the standard may be modified to reflect this change. If you have any documentation of Royal Palm turkeys, please let us know. Ideally, that would be photographs of actual birds from that time period. All input is welcome.