Ruth bronze plaque

[pete zouras]

Does anyone have any information about this item? It is a bronze plaque measuring 4 by 3.5 in. Thank you

[perezfan]

Great piece.... You rarely see them surface, and when they do, they go for $400 or so. Nice detail and very well made figural Ruth piece.

I have seen these listed as "Door Knockers" but they are not. Just a nicely made vintage wall plaque with the hanging mechanism on the back.

I shadowboxed mine, rather than hanging it...

[CarltonHendricks]

I think I recall seeing one of these before....maybe twice....but as I recall the ones I saw were both bigger than 4" x 3 1/2"...I don't recall ever seeing ones that size..I seem to recall them like about 8" tall...As I recall they were quite ambiguous with no markings and left a big question mark as to their origin and time frame they were cast. In my opinion they may be old...or they may not...by old I suppose I mean cast at least before 1980....that is, before the price of baseball memorabilia really took off.

I have nothing concrete on them...no documentation to point to...but just my gut is they are posthumous. I guess if I had to put money on it my best guess would be they were cast in the 1950's....and the main thing that would make me question my own 1950's guess is that the one you have pictured is just so sparkling clean...front and back...

That's about the best I can come up with...a very mysterious piece.

...BTW Mark....very nice Ruth grouping....I used to have that tall plaster statue...

[perezfan]

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[perezfan]

Thanks Carlton...

That tall Ruth Statue is a pretty tough piece... especially hard to find without any chips/cracks. Very contition sensitive - if you even stare at it too hard, it's prone to damage.

Just to play "Devil's Advocate" (on the smaller Ruth Plaque).... I would argue that you'd see a lot more, if it were a recent piece. Whoever produced this thing would have to sell an awful lot, just to cover the costs of the mold, casting, production, etc. I think I have seen a grand total of 3 (maybe 4) with the OP's example included. And that spans over 15 years of collecting this stuff.

Plus, it is very high quality and well made. FWIW, one that I recall seeing was offered by Henry Yee, who touted it as being "of the time period". If it's not from his playing days (and I was forced to guess) I would say it's one of many Ruth items produced around 1948, to commemorate Ruth around the time of his passing. Just a guess...