Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Hello

Can someone please explain the difference in labels on early Spalding gloves?

I am basically talking pre 1925 gloves..

From what I have gathered, there is the black, black post 1905 "reg US Pat" type, a white/beige, and a red..(of course with the Reg US Pat" along the right border.)

The red seems to be the latest, 1915+? The base of the tag facing the fingertips.
White in between ... c1905-15 ...The base of the tag facing the wrist end.
Black the earliest...c1895-1905...The base also towards the wrist.

Here is an actual Ty Cobb game used glove sold at a Huggins&Scott auction with the beige label/white text, stating 1905-15...base of label toward the fingertips.
http://october09.hugginsandscott.com/cg ... emid=13938

On this Cobb glove as example, one can see the "US Reg Pat" along the right border as on the later red tags..

What I find curious about this is that on my white fielder with beige tag/white lettering, this does not exist along the right border as other post 1905 gloves ? (due to the patent law)
As a note, the base of the label is towards the wrist as on earlier (apparently pre 1905( Spaldings...
(Please see attached image)

This makes me believe mine is pre 1905 therefore?

Anyway, should anyone know or can explain it would be genuinely appreciated.

Great forum..thanks to all for taking time to post info , past company info, etc...
...an invaluable resource.

Kind regards
D

Here is a link that dates the spalding tags. Hope this helps.

http://www.baseballglovecollector.com/g ... ge.jpg.php

Ah...well thank you.

Seems to differ with the dating info given to the Ty Cobb Spalding listed within the H&S auction with its beige/white tag.

I am familiar with that site. Never knew to find these images there.
Unsure as to how accurate it is however...

As example, I thought all labels after 1905 needed to have "Registered US Pat" on them?
I notice a beige/white label as well at the beginning of the 4th row that doesn't have this..and black labels without stating 1910s does not have this along the sides.

I may contact Spalding directly and attempt a discussion to obtain a definitive answer from the source..Ive become very curious. Many of these types of companies often are happy to help..hat is if you find the right bookworm.

Actually the dating and labels on various marques is an interesting topic, and important one. I have found no definitive info on this anywhere. Perhaps there are published books which explain?

Although I am new to gloves and baseball memorablia, there does not seem to be that much solid (or organized/definitive)info out there I have found on gloves unlike other areas.
Gloves seem, strangely, rather young or new within the serious collecting arena?

Genuinely appreciate it once again.

Best
D

From what I have gathered, there are (at least) two black patches. One has "Makers" on the bottom. The other has "1876". The "Makers" is the earlier tag and has a more ornate "Spalding" name. The black tags were followed by a series of red tags. The beige tags you mentioned are actually faded red. 1905-1910 is loosely when the transition from black to red took place. Someone out there may know for sure, and I'm sure some digging might produce an answer, but I doubt Spalding will know, sadly. JD's site is probably the best place to start. You'll have to go through all the catalogs looking for color plates and try to narrow it down. Period advertising would be another useful tool, but those tend to focus on the face of the gloves, not the back.

more tags

http://www.antiquesportscollector.com/TagsMain.html

Thank you very much...very helpful.

It has been quite a learning curve...but very interesting and enjoyable...This forum a Godsend..

The beige a faded red? hah..no kidding.
I have been researching all online and the couple purchases I have made have yet to arrive, therefore I haven't been able to judge anything directly yet.
Wouldn't you know...hah

Yes, period advertising a great idea. I was beginning to feel that was a good direction to take to assist learning, but hadn't quite arrived at the thought yet.
Great stuff..thanks again

Will certainly be exhausting the search functions, etc..but may end up annoying you guys with some questions.

Kind regards

@murphusa : Awesome reference source. Bookmarked. Thank you.

I like the uniform tag website that Murph mentions. The creator of that site delves into a lot of detail regarding dating of Splading tags, even so far as counting stitches on the baseball logo. The uniform tags are more varied than glove tags but there is some carry-over and to me it is very interesting. There are also many other sporting goods companies illustrated.

the website is owned by a member here, Bravosin99

has been a great resource for me for a long time

Mike, I see very little crossover between uniform tags and glove tags.

Murph, that's Joe Kirschner's site. Bravosin99 is Josh Maddux I thought. Josh, where are you? Come out and play. It's been too long.

The other collage on my site was made by someone in the 90's. I don't remember who. It was a great first attempt to list a bunch of the different Spalding styles. I never checked the dates that closely as I believe that older tags were often used on later models due to extra supplies, the specific manufacturing plant, etc. Tag dating is not as reliable as model number dating. I always take it with a grain of salt.

JD