Baseball ID Help

[BrandonG]

Hey Lance, very interesting pieces here. The Reach ball I have seen before, but not as paper weights. The markings should be a bit smaller and the sweetspot stamp appears to be a William Harridge 3 star which would date it within the 1945-1959 range. Even though it is the older style Reach logo on the bottom (1910's) it is a later ball.

The Spalding ball is very interesting in the fact that the bottom logo is the Spalding logo used in the 1890's. I'm not saying it's that old, just interesting they'd go back that far. From the little bit of stamping left on the sweetspot it appears to be a Giles ball and would fit the same era of your Reach ball.

All of that being said, looking at the quality of the stitching, type of thread, and the punch holes in the horsehide I would date them to be early 1950's. Some people say these miniature baseballs were salesman samples, but I do not agree with that, especially having the stamping different. I think they were just promotional giveaways, novelty gifts, or simply just a paperweight!

Hope that helps!