19th Century Bowling Pins w/ BB Players

[WillowGrove]

Pardon my selfishness for not putting these in July pick-ups but I was hoping to get some feedback on these. I'd love to know if anyone has seen these before.

I found an old thread and saw the ornate pins and Brouthers/Clarkson ball; those are intense. I also matched them up to the graphics on the bowling pins in Mark Rucker's book and don't think they're the same graphics.
Also to note, the ones in his book are 8 or 9 inches high, these are 15. Crazy - now we may have three different 'sets' of bowling pins with baseball players graphics on them.

I expect to email Mark (is he on here?) and ask how he knows that the players on his pins are the HOFers he mentions? They always seemed kinda generic to me.

I am really happy to own these and thought I'd share them with the gang at my favorite forum. thanks for your thoughts. happy collecting.

peter

[baseball tourist]

Pretty nice set. I wish I could help you. Can you tell us where you found them? Chris

[D. Bergin]

Are they bowling pins or are they juggling clubs?

[doug.goodman]

Those are very cool.

Thanx for showing them.

Doug

[WillowGrove]

Are they bowling pins or are they juggling clubs?


I did mean to write that in my post - that they could very well be 'Indian Clubs'. I just found out about Indian Clubs - they were used to exercise and the time period of the late 19th century is when they began to be popular.

And at 15 inches I think that's what they are.

Got them at an auction out in Pennsylvania - and they were sold as bowling pins but I now do think they could be the Indian Clubs.

I'm still researching. thanks

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Peter,

Check out this old Net54 thread... Interesting to see how similiar the poses are??? I hope this helps???

Shawn

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=119215&highlight=bowling

[WillowGrove]

yeah - it's weird because the graphics on mine are slightly different than the graphics on those ornate pins in the thread (which are the same as the graphics on the pins in Rucker's book).

So if rucker says his are of specific players, mine may have been issued later to look like those players?

I think all the players are generic across all three sets.

but I'll keep researching.

[olsport]

Another thing to consider is wear patterns. If these were bowling pins, wouldn't they have some wear paterns horizontally across the middle of the pins, where the bowling ball would strike them?

[Scott Garner]

Another thing to consider is wear patterns. If these were bowling pins, wouldn't they have some wear paterns horizontally across the middle of the pins, where the bowling ball would strike them?

Absolutely!!

[Vintage Yankee]

Peter,

I was one of the underbidders. Had I not had funds tied up in a couple of other recent pick-ups, I'd have gone higher. I think you got a pretty good value there. Regardless of thier original intended purpose (my gut was indian clubs, too), they have great eye appeal. Enjoy them!

Regards,

R.J.

[WillowGrove]

I appreciate it. I'm happy to own them and they've motivated me to find a way to display my collection. Thanks again