April pickups

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by vintagesportscollector

Spectacular Mark, congrats! What's the history behind the statue? Sculptor? How do you date it to c.1875? Amazing pick up!!

Well, I was sorta "guesstimating" on the 125 years, and thought the Ricky Williams Photo may have been a few years more recent. But it came from Massachusetts, and was found with some other 1880s Yale paraphernalia.

As for Walter Camp himself... In 1873, he attended a meeting where representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale universities created the intercollegiate football association (IFA). So given the evidence and accompanying items, the timing is likely somewhere in that 1870 - 1880 range... or thereabouts. If anyone has further evidence or insight (especially regarding the Sculptor), please share!

A final note... the materials, construction, and style of Base are all virtually identical to the Muller Baseball Statues of 1868. Same elongated oval base with textured surface. So I'm confident there's well over a century of age to it.

Thanks!

[mjkm90]

Fantastic find Mark! Congrats😃👍🙌

[vintagesportscollector]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Well, I was sorta "guesstimating" on the 125 years, and thought the Ricky Williams Photo may have been a few years more recent. But it came from Massachusetts, and was found with some other 1880s Yale paraphernalia.

As for Walter Camp himself... In 1873, he attended a meeting where representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale universities created the intercollegiate football association (IFA). So given the evidence and accompanying items, the timing is likely somewhere in that 1870 - 1880 range... or thereabouts. If anyone has further evidence or insight (especially regarding the Sculptor), please share!

A final note... the materials, construction, and style of Base are all virtually identical to the Muller Baseball Statues of 1868. Same elongated oval base with textured surface. So I'm confident there's well over a century of age to it.

Thanks!

Love the piece, it's remarkable, but just so you know, wikipedia is wrong - in 1873 Walter Camp was 14 years old and did not attend the IFA meeting, he didn't enter Yale until 1876. Given the infancy of football at that time, the timing of the sculpture most likely not 1870s. Illustrators and sculptors, such as Frederic Remington and R.T. McKenize, started to be influenced by Camp's Yale Team's in the late 1880s and early 1890s. If Walter Camp influenced the original sculptor, logic would suggest the timing is more late 1880s to 1890s - regardless well over a century old.

[ksfarmboy]

Outstanding pickups to everyone. Each is its own treasure.