Jim Thorpe

[Joe Hunter]

Sure. Back in the day, clothing retailers would have large, fashion books highlighting the latest clothing lines along with fabric samples for customers to select from. The pages were made of thick cardboard about 16”x 20” which is the size of this plate. To ad some variety to the book, manufacturers would include some pages of interest other than simply fabric and clothes. This piece is framed and matted, but as I recall, the back of it had fabric swaths on it. There is one fashion plate that I’ve seen but I don’t own, that pictures one of the Yankees teams of the 1920’s. I own two other plates, one is a generic baseball player in his uniform with the same player next to him in a suit and straw hat. The other is a generic golfer in the latest golf fashion. There are some plates out there that picture famous players, such as Ty Cobb, modeling suits, etc. These usually bring pretty good money. These are really getting hard to find.

[jefferyepayne]

Exactly. These are extremely tough to find. Have never seen that Thorpe before. Nice piece!

I have this Royal Taylor of Frank Gotch who was a world champion wrestler in the 1910s.



Have it framed and hanging over my display case.



jeff

[Joe Hunter]

Wow. That’s a beautiful plate and stunning display. Here is my baseball plate. Some have said the guy resembles Christy Mathewson, but I don’t think so.

[Joe Hunter]

Didn’t know that about Thorpe and his college major. That is quite interesting and ironic.

[runred41]

Thanks for the info! Dang....find me one of Thorpe and let me know! I bet they are extremely hard to find...thanks for showing it!

[runred41]

What’s also cool about that piece is that is what Thorpe studied at Carlisle...Haberdashery and Tailoring!