First off, that's a nice Christmas card, Dave, but it's too bad someone named 'Lou' wrote all over it
. And why did he have to sign it twice? Bummer
Guys....Here's my recent pickup from Craig's list, of all places. Supposedly this was in the wall of the guy's grandparents house and was found years ago while doing restoration. From my limited research, I believe this old ball is called a 'belt ball' and dates from the mid 19th century (please correct me if I'm wrong). It's 3 pieces and as seen in the photos, the one side came loose years ago with the rolled inner fabric strips exposed. I was disappointed to see the loose piece at first, but then decided it was kind of cool to see the 'inner workings' of this old ball.....kind of like one of those engine diagrams on display at auto shows (so, IMO, sort of like 'bad news, not so bad/slightly good news'). The ball measures almost 9" in circumference at it's widest girth, so it's a bit larger than some of the other ones I came across in my research.
Matt