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

[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.

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Carlton,

Sorry about the delay in response to your question. The two articles I pasted above are from the Sporting Life 1890. I just sent you an email with several links (some of which may be the same stuff as posted above) that I hope helps you in your search. I will keep looking... There has to be a photo or a drawing picturing a team with the prize somewhere! you would think

Shawn

[smokelessjoe]

Carlton,

I did some looking on the Google "patent" search program and found a couple of Bailey items such as spoons and rings from the 1890s, but did not find any plaques etc. I doubt that the plaque that you have was patented, but I did see some records in other sources that showed the Bailey company patented some trophies and plaques??? Someone who is more familar with patent research may be able to find them. Not sure if it would help but you never know.

Also, I found this in the Hunt auction, but there is not a picture... It would be neat to see.

February 22nd and 23rd 2002

942 1917 Chief Bender presentation award basket. Openwork silverplate basket engraved in center "Fred Stone Shoot 10-9-17 C.A. Bender". 10" diam. stamped Bailey, Banks, & Biddle on bottom: EX-MT

[smokelessjoe]

Found this nice advertisement from "Outing library of Sports" 1888