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Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: August 24th, 2014, 2:50 pm
by mikesglove
Thanks! The internet searches can turn up a lot of fascinating history. I especially like finding an address from an old sporting goods advertisement and using the Google "Street View" to ferret out old and abandoned sporting goods factories. The one who started it all is Joe Phillips, known on the forum as softball66 or on ebay as bubbared. I think you can still find his "Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Source Book" on ebay which includes a history of the major sporting goods companies and baseball glove equipment catalogs. It is really invaluable. Also, there are still copies of Joe's bimonthly newsletter, "The Glove Collector" on ebay from time to time. He started it in 1989 and kept it going for about 20 years. Joe dedicated a lot of time and energy in presenting detailed information on glove companies, ballplayers and of course glove collecting. Also, be sure to register on Jim Daniels site, http://www.baseballglovecollector.com. Besides the awesome glove photos from collectors, there is a lot of historical and pictorial info available in the "Glove Library" section.

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: October 14th, 2014, 8:56 pm
by mikesglove
Here is a radical looking 1930's KenWel glove made for Vandervoort Hardware. It's a "Gordon Slade" model 530 with lacing up the pinky in addition to the trademark KenWel finger lacing. No other way into the padding except through the pinky lacing. Pretty cool look to the glove. Glad the cloth patch and pocket stamps remained intact.
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Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: October 15th, 2014, 7:14 am
by vintagebrett
That's a sharp looking glove! Similar to the VWD from the teens that was laced up the side - I think there was a Reach model too.

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: October 28th, 2014, 7:40 pm
by mikesglove
I couldn't find a lace-up 'teens era VWD glove but here is one from 1924.
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Here is the A.J. Reach model from 1925.
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Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: December 30th, 2016, 3:03 pm
by rdb34
Mike,

Found this glove at a flea market over the summer( fun note: Hippie Tom of American Pickers was selling at the both next door, got to shake his hand). I've showed it to a few forum members and they all said the same thing that it was a Pinelli model. The big feature that threw me off was, in all the available glove pictures the leather tabs have double lacing, the glove I found had a single lace ran thru the grommets on the tabs.

It took me awhile to get the glove this presentable, unfortunately the only time any stampings become visible is when I'm conditioning it.


Hope you enjoy the pics,

Richie

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: December 30th, 2016, 5:26 pm
by mikesglove
That's a great find! The fact that it has only the single eyelet through the leather flaps is super cool. It is early, early in the Ken-Wel laced finger development. The patch, button and overall condition is excellent. A real survivor! I know Pinelli endorsed the double laced model in the 1924 catalog. I think yours may pre-date that. The 1923 catalog is not complete unfortunately. Here's the patent drawing for your glove. Notice the flaps on all four fingers. Your close-up photo shows the pinky flap torn off at some point. All in all though, a landmark glove!
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Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: December 30th, 2016, 7:41 pm
by glovejunkie
Richie,

Can you send me an email....I'd love to chat with you about that glove;)

glovejunkie@yahoo.com

Eric

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: January 4th, 2017, 7:01 pm
by Number9
rdb34 wrote:Mike,

Found this glove at a flea market over the summer( fun note: Hippie Tom of American Pickers was selling at the both next door, got to shake his hand). I've showed it to a few forum members and they all said the same thing that it was a Pinelli model. The big feature that threw me off was, in all the available glove pictures the leather tabs have double lacing, the glove I found had a single lace ran thru the grommets on the tabs.

It took me awhile to get the glove this presentable, unfortunately the only time any stampings become visible is when I'm conditioning it.


Hope you enjoy the pics,

Richie


Richie, that's incredible. Definitely one of the coolest flea market finds I've heard of in the glove world in quite some time. Congrats!

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: February 1st, 2017, 1:10 pm
by rdb34
Thanks for the compliments on the Ken-Wel. I can't wait for the 1923 catalog to pop up. Although, I have a feeling this glove might not be in there anyway. My reasoning is that the leather tabs on the back of the fingers was probably a quality control nightmare. Not only to manufacture but the inherent weakness of the design. It probably didn't take long to figure out that installing the grommets directly in the fingers as opposed to the tabs was way stronger.


I like to imagine they gave this glove to a player to try out. The pinky tab broke on the first hot smash and we have the Dazzy Vance model.

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: May 25th, 2017, 2:30 pm
by vintagebrett
With a little help from JD in identification, here is a very early Ken-Wel label. Gotta love the K made of bats surrounded by a ball. Too bad the cloth label isn't in better shape.

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Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: May 25th, 2017, 5:20 pm
by ebbets55
Love it! Fantastic pickup. Only the second time I've seen that logo. Pre-'20 Ken Wels are just about extinct. Glad to see another turn up.

JD

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: April 11th, 2019, 2:32 pm
by mikesglove
Here is a Ken-Wel ad from the 1919 Gloversville city directory.
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It would be nice if some pre-1922 Ken-Wel catalogs surfaced. Until then, we'll just have to sleuth it out. The factory at the address listed was torn down in 1930 to make way for apartments. Prior to the factory on Yale St., gloves were made at the factory of Bert Kennedy in Johnstown. His factory was the impetus to start Ken-Wel.

Here are the crossed bat logos of the two pre-1922 gloves/mitts mentioned above. The first one appears to be stamped Johnstown and the second appears to be stamped with a faint Ken-Wel
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The first cloth patch is from the catchers mitt above. The second is from a 1922 glove. Although the colors are different, I can see a similarity in the football shaped oval and lettering.
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Sketching the first logo looks something like this:
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It's easy to see the similarity of the wrist strap pattern on the pre-1922 mitt on the left and the 1924 mitt to the right. That strap pattern was used by Ken-Wel for many years.
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Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

PostPosted: April 12th, 2019, 5:44 pm
by mikesglove
The Crossed bats "K" logo is typical KenWel, creative and a little offbeat. Around 1922, Kenwel introduced Art Deco inspired and folksy street sign logo.
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The Burns model was Ken-Wel's flagship model in 1922.
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Their second in line was a Kenoko Elk glove.
This 562 Elk model was mis-stamped at the factory
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An "ELK 5__P" was stamped over the street sign logo.
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The 562 Elk glove appears to have white piping but that's not the case.
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Below is a different model 562S Elk glove that tells the before and after tale.
Piping just dry as a bone! Calling Dr. Jackson!
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Besides the cool grommet web on this 562S model, the logo stamps are super.
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