1888 Bailey Championship Prize - Sterling Silver Plaque 18”x 15”

[CarltonHendricks]

Thanks one and all for your kind words.

My friend Mike, who’s grandfather owned Dieges and Clust sent the link below to the Bailey Banks and Biddle history, very informative, lots of history.
http://www.baileybanksandbiddle.com/...y/history.html
Mike told me he actually dated one of the Biddle girls back in the mid-1970's, while they were in Gemology school together.

Mark PerezFan, I knew I’d hear from you on this piece!…Hey by the way I hear you’re really tear’n it up!!!! Congrats!

Shawn, whoa!!!…what the…keep’um coming buddy, those are fantastic…Please post everything in your power….I’m VERY anxious to see EVERYTHING you have!!!!!! But can you please include the periodical and date they came out of? Would really appreciate it….Shawn’s the man!!! Thanks much.

Please welcome Paul “olsport”…I sent him a link to this thread and he‘s now a member….Paul was a regular at the old PMA show in San Mateo back in “ol” the days before everything got eBayed…likes the antique stuff!
-Carlton

[BrockJacob]

Hows the ole National story coming along Carlton?

[olsport]

Yes, I'm a rookie on here, but not in the field of antique sports memorabilia. I have been collecting for close to 20 years. What got me started in Old Sports memorabilia was when a friend I worked with showed me some of his old baseball memorabilia at his house and I was shockingly excited about most of it! He had a single 5 x 7" sheet of paper with Ty Cobb's autograph signed over and over all over it like 25 times! The story was Ty visited an orphanage and signed like 2 sheets,to cut out single autographs for each child. Well apparently everyone got one and these were left over and never seperated after all these years! He started me on old baseball photos after I saw his amazing 1890s Mamouth plate Eclipse baseball team photo in the original victorian frame! Many years later he sold me that very piece that inspired me to start collecting! Jack DeStories is his name and I have no idea where he is or what he's up to?
Great find Carlton on the Bailey Plaque!!! A piece you will cherish the rest of your life, like I do, every time I see my Eclipse Photo!

[CarltonHendricks]

Brock..it's not but I'm having fun with this thing for now...get to it later

Paul "olsport" ..you're welcome...you're gonna have a blast on this site.

I almost forgot about this below...check this out...culled from an 1890 NY Times...Apparently the Bailey plaque was very coveted. I'm very interested to see what else Shawn England comes up with also.


Detroit Athletic Club and the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
John Owen Jr., right, and Michael C. Murphy, his notoriously strict coach and trainer at the Detroit Athletic Club, at a photo studio start line. Owen became the first amateur to break 10 seconds in the 100-yard dash.

The Old Detroit’s Sleek New Model
The New York Times
October 11, 1890
WASHINGTON-Now is the time for the Manhattan Athletic Club of New York to crow, and her representatives are taking advantage of their turn to whoop things up. Several hundred men wearing the pretty "cherry diamond" of the club are having a jollification here tonight over the result of the National Amateur Athletic Union's championship of the United States, contested on the grounds of the Columbia Athletic Club. The Manhattans are now the undisputed champions of the country, and while many thought before the games began that this club would defeat the New York Athletic Club in the race for the Bailey, Banks & Biddle plaque, representing the championship of clubs, no one believed the margin between them to-night would be as large as it is.

The New York Athletic Club won the plaque two years in succession, but the past year was the first time the Manhattans competed for it. Three world's amateur records were surpassed in the contests. The most notable feat was the running of John Owen, Jr., Detroit Athletic Club, in the 100-yard dash, who covered the distance in 94û5 seconds. The record heretofore both in this country and in England was 10 seconds, this time having been made by a number of runners. Owen's performance equals the professional record, and was the most wonderful exhibition of sprinting ever seen in amateur contests. L.H. Cary of the Manhattan Athletic Club was second to Owen by about 18 inches, while Fred Westing, Manhattan Athletic Club, was third by 26 inches. All three finished close together and all were within even time, 10 seconds. Owen won the championship last year, and had a ten-second record before.

The track was in the best possible condition for the contest, and went far toward establishing this new record. There is a claim made that the ground was not level, but if there is any incline it is very slight, and a member of the Record Committee of the Amateur Athletic Union said tonight that he thinks the record will be allowed.

The timing in each event was excellent. It was done by C.C. Hughes, Manhattan Athletic Club; C.A. Reed, Boston Athletic Association, and M.B. Bishop, Staten Island Athletic Club. In the heat where Owen made his 100-yard record, Mr. Hughes's watch failed to stop, but the other two agreed.

John Owen's record of 9.8 seconds in the 100-yard dash stood for 31 years until it was broken by Charles Paddock of the Los Angeles Athletic Club in 9.6. The 100-yard dash gave way to the 100- meter competition in most major athletic meets during the 1930's.
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html...rts/10.11.html

[ksfarmboy]

Carlton, that thing is huge! Wow, what a great piece. Thanks for sharing.

[HiNeighbor]

Great Stuff Cartlton. Fantastic story, which is half the fun of collecting.

I would have caved, like Barry mentioned, much earlier than you for fear of losing such a great piece with apparent provenance. While it's not sports, but beer, my dad and I ran into a fellow at a show over the summer with a c. 1900 reversed glass sign in his trunk. After putting our eyeballs back in there sockets, he quoted us the price. Cash was flying as fast as we could get it in his hands before anyone else walked by. Some stuff just never shows up.

Great piece. Please post a pic of it when it's all polished and mounted.

greg

[Joe_G.]

A quick question from someone unfamiliar with caring for such pieces. Do collectors of trophies, plaques, etc. universally support polishing/cleaning them? Personally, I don't believe I would want to clean it for fear of losing some of the detail. The 120yr acquired patina isn't so bad. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind once I see it polished

[CarltonHendricks]

I'm slowly learning more about this plaque and warming up to it....Below is a key reference from the April 9, 1890 New York Times that reveals how much the plaque cost then....$2,000.00 in 1890....whoa 2 g's back then, can you believe that?

Speaking of cost...regarding Greg and Barry's concerns about losing the plaque by negotiating the price and taking too long. For the kind of dough we were dealing with, the seller wasn’t about to turn into the soup Nazi….thrust it into his chest and say no plaque for you, I put away...Matter fact some guy I think knew the seller walked up in the middle of our hard ball session and started talking jesting non-sense about our negotiating, and the seller told him in no uncertain terms to knock it off we were in the middle of talking serious money....I was very glad he did too as I can't stand guys like that, and he saved me from unloading on him!...

I'm reminded of a theory I have about high priced items...When you go to a show, it's best to get in as early as possible...the sooner you're on the scene the better chance of finding something...whether it's a flea market or tony antiques show....but if you stop to consider it, there is a benefit to an item being priced high, believe it or not. And that is, that it can prevent the item from selling before you get there....and...if it happens to be something you really want and you're willing to pay the high price and you get it...that high price just worked to your benefit. Simple but true....I didn't see it till about 9:00AM...like any good flea, people had been out there since 4:00AM with flashlights...I don't know how long the seller had it out....but had it been priced more reasonably it may have been gone by the time I got there...so now the only question is...what's "priced more reasonably"?...the more rare something is the harder it is to estimate what it's worth....and in this case, it's extremely rare, unique one of a kind rare...of course it helped that I live and breathe exactly this kind of thing and probably understood it better than anyone who saw it. To quote John Buonaguidi "A bargain is a state of mind".

But I admit I'm a cautious buyer....ask Keith Schneider of Gasoline Alley Antiques in Seattle...he told me that once, that I was a cautious buyer. And I guess the more money the more cautious...I think the only time I get in a hurry is when something's a steal and it's great. But generally I warmed up to this plaque slowly. As a matter fact...After I had the guy that sold me the meat slicer take the photo of me holding it, the one I'm wearing a hood on my head...I wanted to leave with it in my car…I wanted to just drive to someplace, side the road, anywhere and just examine it…away from where I bought it. So I’m driving thru the parking lot and couldn’t go any further…stop the car middle of the parking lot…show’s closing, cars buzzing past me, freezing whipping wind…but I had to stop pull it out of my trunk and just look at it…what a way to start our relationship…freezing cold wind blowing…but I just had to see it…It’s always been kind of a tradition with me…I usually drive my pickup to shows and when I leave I spread out everything I bought in the bed and just look at it all…and sit on my tailgate and relax a bit before I leave…but I had my mustang that day and it was very cloudy….I couldn’t take the wind for long…I had sent Ryan Simms photos of it over the last month, so shot a very lame photo of it on my phone and sent it to him on the spot…



As I was driving away Ryan called me and said he got a very poor image on his phone but he guessed it was the plaque..I had to share my big find with someone…and told him the whole story as I drove away from the show…We talked about collecting a while, his latest finds and so forth….As we began to wrap up the conversation Ryan asked me how I felt…I thought hard….I told him I just felt OK, not great…it was significant money and I just didn't feel like spending it!… I told him had it not been that much I’d have felt better, but I just felt OK…Ryan said he’d had the same experience with buys before…and said he knew the feeling but that as time went on what I spent would seem more reasonable. Of course I didn't know what I know now about it's history. It's only been a little more than a week and I’m already feeling pretty good.