Are many of the 19th Century Baseballs being sold recently fakes?

[ruth-gehrig]

I was looking at the belt ball that ended today on ebay and thought the same thing about 19th century baseballs popping up on ebay more often. It would in interesting to know the definitive test of whether a ball is modernly made using old materials - if that test exists

[BrandonG]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

I was looking at the belt ball that ended today on ebay and thought the same thing about 19th century baseballs popping up on ebay more often. It would in interesting to know the definitive test of whether a ball is modernly made using old materials - if that test exists

With my new authentication, I have access to a digital x-rax machine. I've had a few 19th century baseballs sent to me, a couple I found to be authentic, the other not so much. Here are pictures of the x-rays. The ball on the left is hand wound with no modern center or spooling. The second x-ray isn't as detailed because we were zoning in on the core, but as you can see we found it to be a perfect rubber center core, which is obviously not found in home made lemon peel balls from the 1850's-60's.

www.historyofthebaseball.com/authentication just in case.

[prewarsports]

Brandon

I think that is a good first step, but if someone was going to go to all the trouble to fake a ball and they had vintage leather (easy to get) and vintage twine to sew it up (also easy) they could easily buy a beat up old ball and unwind the thing and then remove the center but use the old string to rewind a new ball without a center right? Obviously having a cork center would eliminate it right off the bat, but I would think that would only eliminate a small percentate of the fakes with most still being out there.

I want to add that I have never owned a belt ball or Lemon peel in my life despite wanting one for years, which has led to my paranoia on the subject. I have seen some that you just know are good, mostly based on the uneven wear and the patina of the ball especially in the stitch holes but you cant really get a sense of that from a photo on ebay.

Rhys

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

I want to add that I have never owned a belt ball or Lemon peel in my life despite wanting one for years, which has led to my paranoia on the subject. I have seen some that you just know are good, mostly based on the uneven wear and the patina of the ball especially in the stitch holes but you cant really get a sense of that from a photo on ebay.

Rhys

Rhys, I had a couple about ten years ago. I bought them separately on ebay and felt very comfortable that they were both real, but at the time, we discussed them on the board, and the consensus was that it's nearly impossible to date such items, mainly because they were hand-made from whatever material was available at the time, most old string and leather did not change that much from the late 1800's to the early 1900's, and the balls were then played nearly to death - it's a miracle that any survived. They could have been 1800's, but also could have been early 1900's. Most of the 1800's dates applied to such balls (by sellers, of course) are just wishful thinking.

[BrandonG]

I think there are a lot of attributes to an actual authentic 19th century ball that would be difficult to replicate, even if someone was using vintage leather, thread, and stuffing. There's just certain ways the leather reacts to having been stitched tightly for 150+ years in comparison to how it would look if it were stitched yesterday. The x-ray is a start yes, but there are many that I wouldn't even waste the time or money to x-ray because I can tell just by looking at the exterior. The construction, the wear & tear, intentional scuffing looks different than age wear. etc.

I'll post some pictures of fake vs. authentic later, and point out obvious flaws.

[drc]

I was considering getting a digital x-ray machine. Talked to my dentist about as I was literally sitting in the dentist's chair.