Winchester Buckleback Catchers Mitt

[Joe Hunter]

Hi. I have not posted on this site before, but do frequent the Net54 boards regularly. I recently purchased an old Winchester buckleback catcher's mitt at a local antique store at what others tell me was a pretty good price. One of the board members suggested I post the info on this site. The glove is pretty rough, with quite a bit of wear and some of the lacing missing. The tag on the back of the glove is still present, and the stamping on the front is visible, although faded. I was unable to post pictures on this site; however, pictures are posted on the Net54baseball.com site under the Memorabilia section. My question is, is this a candidate for professional restoration, should I do it myself, or just leave as is. Thanks, for any input.

[Number9]

I saw your glove when you posted it on net54. Great pickup, especially considering the price.

You have a few options. First is the easiest and that's to simply leave it as is. Some people really like the untouched look. Looks great in a display with other well loved items.

Second, you could attempt to clean and relace it yourself. Simply brush off any loose dirt and then use any number of leather cleaners followed by a light coating of conditioner. Relacing is fairly straightforward, you just need to find a source for your lace. A post on the board should find someone who is willing to sell a single lace.

Third, there are a number of people who can do this work for you. Myself included. You're probably looking at around $100 for the work, possibly more depending on the extent of the repairs.

If you were looking to sell, you'd probably realize around $150-250 on ebay as is. After a cleaning and relace probably $250-350. So whether you do it yourself, or send it out, the work is justifiable.

Great glove.

[softball66]

Now for straight on glove guys a Winchester glove is no big deal actually BUT this is a "Cross Collectible" and the Winchester Arms folks are eager beavers for items outside of the gunneries. So that's the main allure for your mitt and it makes your mitt more valuable than just a ball glove item.
No. 9 is absolutely correct in his advice IMO.
1. There are those who prefer items as they are (except perhaps with cleaning and very minor adjustments)
2. There are others who will purchase something that has been nicely repaired and reconditioned.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And that's your choice

[vintagebrett]

Great find. I think that glove would clean up pretty well. I agree with what has been said above. I think for this color glove, the best conditioner may be Chelsea leather Food - the black type. I think it would dress this glove up really nice.

Wondering if Thomas E. Wilson made the glove for Winchester because the web buckle looks similar to one I found a while back. I think that feature makes the glove even more desirable - high quality Winchester with black leather and double buckle - lots of appeal!

There are a lot of great glove "doctors" here that could help you out if interested. I'll throw my hat in the ring for crackofthebat - he does good work at very reasonable prices.

[Joe Hunter]

Thanks for all the great sugestions. I haven't decided which route I will take, but will try to make a decision soon. Since I'm not a big collector of equipment, I will probably sell it, eventually, one way or the other. This forum has some very interesting topics and the membership is obviously very knowledgeable. I plan to visit often.