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

[CarltonHendricks]

Here’s the latest updates on the Bailey. Being Christmas eve, I’ll focus on this a little today eve before I launch for Christmas.

I emailed the Manhattan Athletic Club to see if they had a period photo since they won it in 1890.…heard nothing back.

I emailed the New York Athletic Club for a photo….They replied that they had referred my email to their historian, but that he didn’t know of one, and “to his knowledge, there is no photo or illustration of the plaque in question. He will, of course, look into the situation, and if one is located, we will be sure to notify you.”

I emailed Bailey Banks & Biddle. Ironically BB&B are going out of business/liquidating. Naturally a Jewelry store liquidation sale is usually just a sales tactic, but it seems to be for real. BB&B is owned by a large conglomerate of jewelry stores named Finlay Fine Jewelry Corp and according to a story in the Washington Business Journal it’s really going out of business. http://washington.bizjournals.com/wa...1/daily86.html .
Which is kind of ironic I’d find their masthead creation bearing their name at the same time they are shuttering after being in business since 1832. Anyway….I emailed the corporate office and didn’t know what to expect. I got back an email explaining they don’t have a company historian but they gave me the name and phone number of someone at one of their stores who “is familiar with our older items”. I spoke briefly with her yesterday and she was very nice and will be glad to help if she can but was very busy. You can imagine how busy a store going out of businesses at Christmas time must be. I expect to hear from her after the holidays. Initially I asked a courteous “how are you” and she said sad…I asked why and she said because they were closing. I asked her how long she had been with them…30 years she said.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier; not directly related to my plaque but is Bailey Banks & Biddle related, was that the very same Sunday I got the plaque I won a c1908 Bailey Banks & Biddle catalog of sorts on eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
It was listed as a catalog, and sort of is, but it’s more an advertising pamphlet that showcases some of their best trophies of that time. When I say trophy…please know trophies are divided into two types…you have stock cups and such that could be ordered from a catalog and a company would engrave it as you ordered. The other kind of trophy are what is called “Presentation Silver”. These are one of a kind commissioned pieces. Works of art really, that were typically ordered by wealthy individuals of corporate entities. They were usually awarded for major renown events, yachting, auto races, etc. This Bailey plaque is an example of “Presentation Silver. Most of the presentation silver produced in America was done by Reed and Barton, Tiffany and Co., Gorham, and Bailey Banks and Biddle. Actually I featured just such a piece for my May 24th- 30th 2009 Sports Antique of the Week. Anyway, my catalog turned out to be a showcase of BB&B presentation silver produced in the 1908 era. I post below photos of the catalog. Please pay attention to the dimensions of the pieces otherwise it’s hard to grasp their impact…and remember they are sterling.

One more note…In all the flurry of researching my plaque I came across a reference to a trophy called the “Founders Week Cup” that Bailey Banks & Biddle made and that sold in DuMouchelles Auctions in Detroit March 22nd for $128,700. I didn’t think too much about it till I was thumbing thru the catalog and what’a ya know…there is was!

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2...ed-to-auction/

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6244033