Awesome sporting goods displays from 1927

[CarltonHendricks]

Scuda, Thanks for posting that...Very interesting...from that article we know the contest was held in 1925 and 26 as well as 1927...and from my plaque we know it was held in 1929 also...but it doesn't provide when the inaugural contest was held...nor does it address what year the plaque was first given....Were it given in 1927 for the first time, it seems likely the article would have announced it...

So...to sum it up...we know for certain the plaque was given in 1927 the year of the article...and likely that wasn't the first year....and we know it was given in 1929 because I have the plaque......

How many of the plaques were given out total and how many survive today are two unanswered questions...For the time being I only know of mine...I would speculate there are others for other years that haven't surfaced on the open market yet or that I just don't know of. Or...perhaps mine is the only survivor...we just don't know. I could imagine one ending up in someones garage in the 1950 or 60's...seen as nothing more than junk by somebody's mom and thrown out in the trash.....gone forever as land fill!

Vintage/antique trophies are made up of two kinds...presentation and stock...The difference is stock trophies...that is, cups, figural trophies, and plaques, could be ordered from a catalog and engraved to order...presentation trophies on the other hand were essentially "one of' a kind" works.



This window trimming contest plaque would be considered a presentation trophy in that the year has been cast into it as opposed to engraved, making it one of a kind. However, what the maker Dieges and Clust did was take a stock trophy and modify it by reworking the model and adding "THE SPORTING GOODS DEALER TROPHY 1929" in high relief around the border. Whether The Sporting Goods Dealer magazine bought exclusive rights to the design is unknown but I speculate not. I know our esteemed net54 member Mike Hoevet has a variation of it he showed me once. As I recall it's has the batter, catcher and ump cast in bronze but it's done in what called "open work"....that is just the players, no background....



The article indicates the contest was held in mid spring, April 4th-11th 1927. My 1929 plaque doesn't give the month but I would speculate the contest was held around the same April/spring period as it was in 1927. If so the beginning of the great depression started approximately seven months later at the end of 1929 when the stock market crashed October 29th...which lasted thru the 1930's...The sporting goods business in America would have certainly dropped during the depression, and in turn The Sporting Goods Dealer magazine would likely have suffered revenue loss from advertising sales as well. I would speculate some sporting goods stores may have closed over the ensuing years. Others may have cut back on what they spent on window trimming services, be it a designated in house employee in charge of visual displays, or a window trimming firm contractor. I suppose it's worth speculating the magazine may have discontinued the window trimming contest for depression related reasons at some point in the 1930's.