Extremely Rare M.L.B. (1886) Stadium Seat (Cincinnati)

[cincicards]

Any chance this is legit?

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Extremely-Rare-M-L-B-1886-Stadium-Seat-Cincinnati_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ50133QQihZ00 7QQitemZ170339229414QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVWQQsalen otsupported">Extremely Rare M.L.B. (1886) Stadium Seat (Cincinnati)</a>

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

"Please correct me if I am wrong, but like I said I will keep this item listed on auction whether or not I am wrong or right."

That's comforting.

[canjond]

I have a feeling an otherwise no-name seat is going to sell for 10x it's true value!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I can not comment on authenticity in this area of collecting, but I did not like the disclaimer as noted in my previous post. It seems as though the seller is using only the patent date and the "CR" logo to jump to his/her conclusion as to the piece's origin. Who's not to say that this wasn't a seat in a railroad station (i.e. "C_______ Railroad")? Or perhaps it is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa (which is much closer to the seller's home in Nebraska than Cincinnati is). I'd certainly love to hear others' opinions on this.

Also, have any artifacts from this park actually survived? I was under the impression that everything was engulfed in the fire. Anyone?

[Leon]

I was thinking train station when I first saw it too.....this is no different than saying an unknown photo is so and so because they lived during that time....

[slidekellyslide]

Interesting...she says she got it at an estate sale in Lincoln. I asked her a few questions about it...I'll relay them here if she answers. IMO that "C" could easily be a "G" which would then probably stand for "Grand Rapids" where it was made. It's probably just a theater seat.

[slidekellyslide]

Hmmm...I'd say this seller has two ebay ID's....not that there's anything wrong with that, but I saw this very cool Baseball Currency on ebay last month and it didn't get a bid...then it was relisted and I guess at the time I didn't realize it was two different seller ID's that listed it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300314687455&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&salenotsupported

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-1887-Baseball-Card-Currency-Memorabilia_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ50133QQihZ0 07QQitemZ170335201337QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVWQQsale notsupported

[barrysloate]

It's funny how whenever there is some question of what an item may be, the seller always assumes the most valuable and expensive possibility. Everything is always baseball related.

[slidekellyslide]

I just wish baseball related items were on the lower end of the price spectrum instead of all the way at the top.

I wonder how many different hobbies there are where baseball related items are at the top in value?

Collect tobacco tins? Baseball is at the top

Collect Coca Cola advertising? Baseball is at the top

Collect Postcards? baseball is at the top

on and on.....

[jmk59]

Grand Rapids used to be the furniture capital of the world - our history is pretty extensive in pre-1900 furniture. I was thinking that if I could figure out the mfg, it might be possible to find old records here as to what kind of seating they made - train station or stadium, for instance.

I've poked around quite a bit on this this morning (mainly as a procrastination and diversion from studying), and I haven't come up with a thing. I can't figure out what either SF or CF might mean from 1886. The only thing similar is Sligh, and they were only in bedroom furniture at that time. List of GR Furniture companies - very comprehensive and covers this time period:

http://www.fm4furniture.org/michyes.htm

I also tried to find a patent to see who invented it (thinking it might lead me to the mfg name), but that is needle in a haystack. Patents that old are only searchable by a few fields like date and classification. Nothing on 4/18/86 and I also tried much broader ranges of years using classifications 297/324 and 297/323 but you have to click on every single search return item - no descriptions in the list. (It's uspto.gov, if anyone is interested in looking. Click Patent Search, then Advanced, and use the syntax given in the field codes - it's fairly straightforward.)

I did get to look at several dozen really cool images like this one though:

http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=US000327026&PageNum=1&IDKey=8918CFEE369C&HomeUrl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526u=%25252Fne tahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r=56%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526d=PALL%2526s 1=297%25252F323.CCLS.%2526p=2%2526OS=CCL/297/323%2526RS=CCL/297/323



I don't have time to do the library research thing, so I am at a dead end for now (and have procrastinated long enough). Still, it was a pleasant diversion. In the process, I stumbled across other sites that I will spend time on when I have more time in August, such as this one that includes some furniture factory photos:

http://www.historygrandrapids.org/

I guess that my parting shots on this would be to wonder if a seat that nice - looks ornate and expensive for the time - would have been used in an outdoor setting when so much of it is wood. Doesn't it seem like baseball stadium seating would have been more plank and bleacher style back then, until they came up with wood protection/preservation coatings? Just thinking out loud here. I'm voting for an indoor use, which excludes baseball.

I enjoyed looking into this one, though. A well-spent hour!

J

[cincicards]

This is the oldest pic of a theater I could find on line:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/fuo/1194265304.html

[prewarsports]

I was under the impression that Baseball box seats were usually just folding chairs and the VAST majority of all seats from this time period were wooden plank benches (even in the good sections). Baseball owners were very concerned about their bottom line and having more than a handful of box seats in a stadium would have broken the bank during this time period. I was also not aware of any real money being spent on a stadium on seating until the Palace of the Fans. Railroads and theatres on the other hand were much more upscale and lucrative during this period and could afford the higher cost of fixtures.

[BrockJacob]

I dont think there is much doubt that its not a baseball stadium seat. Just look at it. Does it look like a seat (a numbered seat at that) that would of been outside in a baseball stadium in 1886? I doubt it.