1800's baseball themed handkerchief
 

Can anyone provide any info / value estimate on this item? It measures approximately 12" x 11" is made of what appears to be silk and has blue ink graphics.

Thanks

definitly not 1800's by the catcher's equipment IMO.

All of the elements say 19c to me. I'd say 1890s at the latest. The fielders are gloveless (or wearing fingerless gloves, hard to tell) and the catcher is not wearing shin pads. Home plate looks to be square too. Most or all of those elements had changed by the turn of the 20c.

I'd say late 1880s, and the value is very subjective. I know a prominent dealer who would charge $1,500 or so for this piece. Perhaps closer to $2,000 if it was clean with no staining or other flaws. But he would be sitting on it for months (if not years) and you'd see it on a recurring basis at the National.

As it is in this condition, I would say $600 - $800 in Hunts, REA or Heritage. Maybe $500 - $600 on ebay. A lot depends on how it's sold, and the commission that a seller is willing to pay. As someone who collects this type of thing, I personally would pay around $600 (or maybe $800 if the stains could be diminished/removed).

Hope this helps... cool piece :cool:

I believe the catcher is wearing shinguards. sock stripes are horizontil on the fields and verticle on the catcher.

I don't think they're actually shin guards... they look more like ribbed or vertically striped socks to me. They don't appear to protrude at all, and the leather knee caps aren't there...

Perhaps it's a slightly later piece, in which the illustrator took some "artistic license" (incorporating some earlier uniform elements). To William's point, the square home plate, Fingerless Gloves and Pillbox Caps suggest an earlier era.

1890-1910
 

I'd say it's from between 1890-1910...would guess 1895 if I had to pick an exact date....based on the black ends of the bats and general flavor. I noticeed the chest protector does not look like a pneumatic. Overall I'd say it's one of the best baseball hankercheifs I've seen.

http://www.sportsantiques.com/06natpage4.htm
I got a similar handkerchief at the 2006 National from Kirk Kovaks for $500.00. It has multiple sports including baseball from about 1870...It has advertising for Standard Shirts which traditionally adds value...Kirk was asking $800.00 as I recall..You can see it in a link in the last paragraph of the page linked above.

<a href="http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/?action=view&amp;current=45c3b441.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/45c3b441.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

hanky
 

also notice the ring bats. 1890s

same one
 

Interesting that in the top middle picture on that sight is what appears to be a printed copy of the Stephenberg silk that I picked up in the Robert Edwards Auction...

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/...x?itemid=22620

I may have paid a bit extra but It really liked it.