c1891 Pennsylvania Billiards Championship Imperial Photo P/U

[CarltonHendricks]

I received this photo this past week of the participants of the Pennsylvania Billiards Championship of 1891...I've never really been a photo guy but occasionally come across one that hits the gotta have it level...For me they gotta be good sized, interesting, and rare...This is now my best billiards piece!

For me the hand written dip pen calligraphy above and below the photo is everything to the image...giving the who what and when of what you're looking at...The cherry on top is the miniature billiard table trophy in the center...and tying it all together...it's American!!!...we're not looking at dapper brits or anything…

Was very happy to find the newspaper clipping on the tournament results.....which references the Stroup trophy (They called it an "Emblem")...and also mentions "The six contestants will be photographed in a group to-day"...no doubt a reference to this photo...

Also found a death notice of John C. Stroup...who donated the trophy...and which gives an excellent discription of it, diamonds and all, seen at the bottom this page...After researching the term "public house"...it appears to indicate a bar...i.e. tavern...Confirming that is the part that he lost his licence...meaning liquor licence I presume

[mjkm90]

Beautiful piece fitting of your world class collection my friend

[vintagesportscollector]

Fantastic pickup Carlton, and finding the news clip adds a great deal to the piece.

[Huysmans]

Great pick up and research yet again Carlton!
I love this image.

[jbsports33]

Outstanding image!

[CarltonHendricks]

Hey thanks everyone...I appreciate the approval as it really set me back...The seller let me think about it for about it for a week...as I told him I already had my L.A. vacation planned to the California Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena, which was on the 12th of this month...also went to the L.A. Pottery Show and the Rose Bowl Flea...Didn't see anything all weekend in the gotta have it level...so pulled the trigger when I got home...Seller deals only in Billiard stuff and is a wealth of information...

I was curious what the advanced photo collectors would have to say about it (David Cycleback) as I don't know photos...just know what I like...I call it an imperial photo...but I don't actually know for sure what constitutes an "imperial" photo...I've always loosely termed larger 19th century photos as imperials...the image exclusively is 15 7/8" wide x 12" tall...









On the subject of billiards memorabilia...the week previous to the California Antiquarian Book Fair...I went to the San Francisco Antiquarian Book and paper fair...There I saw an 1865 Spanish billiards table catalog from a billiard table maker in Barcelona...I'm not a big catalog guy but man this was off the chart...$1,200.00...so I passed as that would have shot down my photo!!!...tons of page after page of engravings of different billiard tables...just a few shots above



But before I saw the billiard catalog I spotted probably the greatest Duke Kahanamoku poster on the planet...I asked the price the dealer said he paid too much...$2,500.00...and I could have it for $3,500.00....man I hated passing on it but 35 would have killed both my vacation and the billiards photo I had on ice...phew it was great...story I heard was it sold before the show opened...then the guy that offered it to me got it from that guy...so went up the food chain twice before I even got to it...So a week later I saw the same dealer in Pasadena...still had it...then when the show was about to close I walked by and it was gone...I said you sold it?...said yes for the same amount I offered it to you for ($3,500.00)...

[bobfreedman]

I spotted this in an upcoming auction

[Runscott]

Carlton, as a billiards collector I'm jealous as heck. I'm constantly on the look-out for billiards photos for my future pool room!