Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I recently came across this old glove, then I noticed it's a lefty. It says GoldSmith on the rear button. It's in pretty rough shape I think (maybe not considering the age). I found a picture of an Eppa Rixey model, and it looks similar.

2 questions.

1. Is it an Eppa Rixey? or at least possibly an Eppa Rixey?

2. Should I attempt to clean it? I plan on selling this glove, and know nothing about cleaning or repairing these old gloves. I would rather leave it to a collector who knows about these old gloves and appreciates them.

As neat as this glove is, books are my passion. I really can't afford to start another collection right now.

If there is any interest, I will offer this glove here on this forum first (in the proper section of course), to someone I know would appreciate it.










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Kind of a tough call without seeing some of the stampings, like a partial endorsement or model number. Goldsmith would routinely issue anywhere from 15 to 25 separate and distinct fielder's glove models every season.

If you're interested in cleaning it up, check out the "Glove Conditioning" and "Glove Restoration" section of the board. Most any old gloves can be safely cleaned. Just use a little care and be gentle on any areas that might look fragile or be deteriorated.

Without getting too involved, the simplest thing you can do just wipe off the glove with a damp sponge or cloth. A little moisture won't cause any problems, as long as you don't totally saturate the leather with water. That might loosen the dirt enought to make some of the stampings more readable, and that might lead to a more positive ID.

Check back if you find anymore clues!

Thanks for the info BretMan. I cleaned it up a little and came up with some markings.

It says "Patented" on the back, with a patent number.
In the palm, it has an embossed signature beginning with a "J".
Below that, it says "GoldSmith".
Then it has the numbers "195" (I assume this is the model number).
After that, it says "Genuine Horse Hide".

I tried to look for lefties who had a first name beginning with a J, but there are a lot.
I also tried to look for GoldSmith model 195, and came up with nothing.

Went through the 2007 Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Souce Book, but found no Model 195 listed for Goldsmith. I can make out the "J" in the photo. Could it be a J. Honus Wagner???? Wishful thinking??? Wagner was a Goldsmith endorser up to 1926.

crackofthebat wrote:Went through the 2007 Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Souce Book, but found no Model 195 listed for Goldsmith. I can make out the "J" in the photo. Could it be a J. Honus Wagner???? Wishful thinking??? Wagner was a Goldsmith endorser up to 1926.

Thanks for the response. The endorsement DOES look to have a first initial, and then 2 names following it. Would Honus Wagner have an endorsement on a lefty glove though? Wouldn't it only be endorsed by a lefty, or doesn't it matter?

crackofthebat wrote:Went through the 2007 Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Souce Book, but found no Model 195 listed for Goldsmith. I can make out the "J" in the photo. Could it be a J. Honus Wagner???? Wishful thinking??? Wagner was a Goldsmith endorser up to 1926.

You know, the more I look at this, the more I think it COULD be J Honus Wagner. I can make out an "er" at the end, and very possibly it is "ner". As I was cleaning it, it seemed to be more visible. Is there any way to bring out the lettering better? The name contains a capital "J' and a capital "H", and while I was cleaning it, what I thought to be a capital "M", but now I think it could have been a capital "W". Following the "M" or "W" are a couple letters I can't make out, and then what seems to be "ner". I have to go out for a while, but when I get back I'm going to try and get some better pictures of the signature.

No, it seems to be " J Han..." not "J Hon..."

I think his endorsement was J.Hans Wagner.

crackofthebat wrote:I think his endorsement was J.Hans Wagner.

Did they emboss a copy of the player's actual signature back then? Or was it just a script version of the players name? I just found some pics of some Honus Wagner gloves, and one has an embossed signature where the "J", and the "H" look identical to the J & H on my glove.

Again, is it normal for a righty to endorse a lefty glove?

Jaimo wrote:Would Honus Wagner have an endorsement on a lefty glove though? Wouldn't it only be endorsed by a lefty, or doesn't it matter?

Doesn't really matter, as companies would issue left and right-handed models for any player.

Crackofthebat is right, that model number doesn't appear in the collected Goldsmith catalog data. But there are gaps in the record and the data is not 100% complete.

"J. Hans Wagner" looks and sounds like a likely endorsement- which would make this a great find!

Here is the link to a page of collectible gloves put together by one of the members of this forum (Jim Daniel/ebbets55). There is a section of Wagner gloves and you can click on the pictures to blow them up. The signatures on the Goldsmith gloves looks pretty identical to what can be read on yours.

Baseball Glove Collector

I used water to darken the area and to try and raise the area around the letters. These were the best pics I could get. I'm pretty sure I can make out a "W". I also tried different things with my camera settings, so if the color seems off...that's why.









I'm almost sure I can make out a "W". It's a ghost of a "w", and you have to get the lighting just right, but I'm about 95% sure this is a lefty J Hans Wagner model 195 Goldsmith glove.

It looks like we were posting at the same time last night- I didn't see your last post while I was typing mine.

Based on what is visible of the endorsement and comparing it to the signature on the other Wagner gloves, they do look like a match. The "J" and "H" seem to be identical.

I will say that the glove looks a whole lot nicer after some minor cleaning! Have you just used water so far? You can see what a tremendous improvement a little cleaning makes in the overall appearance and the ability to read the stampings.

If you were to follow-up with some leather conditioner, the stampings might pop out even more.

BretMan wrote:It looks like we were posting at the same time last night- I didn't see your last post while I was typing mine.

Based on what is visible of the endorsement and comparing it to the signature on the other Wagner gloves, they do look like a match. The "J" and "H" seem to be identical.

I will say that the glove looks a whole lot nicer after some minor cleaning! Have you just used water so far? You can see what a tremendous improvement a little cleaning makes in the overall appearance and the ability to read the stampings.

If you were to follow-up with some leather conditioner, the stampings might pop out even more.

Thank you for your response BretMan. I first cleaned with hot water and a little mild dish soap. I didn't think there were any markings on it when I first looked at it! It's amazing how much the grime builds up.

After cleaning it with water, I rubbed some Eucerin Aquaphor on it (petrolatum, plus lanolin and mineral oil). The leather got really soft and supple.

Sadly, there are some tears in the seams, as well as some red paint on it. The tears I am sure could be repaired. I'm not sure what could be done about the red paint.

I will try some coniditioner on it, and see if the letters pop out some more, or perhaps even darken the area to allow for a better contrast.

I've got to be careful...I'm a book collector not a glove collector, but I believe the passion for each comes from the same place.