Glove of the week: Feb 24 - Mar 2

Discuss interesting gloves listed on eBay or other auction houses.

Glove of the week: Feb 24 - Mar 2

Postby burker72 » March 3rd, 2007, 11:40 am

Before we get started, there are a couple of glaring omissions from last week's discussion.

First is the Ken Wel Dazzy Vance that Glove-Works sold - what a terrific glove. The Vance model was of course a revolutionary glove with the laced fingers, and this particular one is in great shape with the two patches. One of the peculiarities about this glove is that TruSport also feature a Vance model, mostly identical to the Ken Wel (not sure, but there may have been others that made a similar glove with the Dazzy endorsement) - definitely wouldn't happen today. This one went for $450 and is worth every penny since it could easily be the high point for many collections.

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Next, also from last week is the Sonnett Reno Bertoia RB2 model. I love the quality and character of every Sonnett glove that I own and this one looks like it may top them all. Unique to this glove is the lacing of the web through the entire crotch of the glove, and of the course the joined fingers - it didn't catch on, but you have to give them credit for trying. I'm pretty sure I've never seen this model before, fortunately this one is in great shape. I'd have to say this one is very rare, worth the $299 the buyer paid for it.

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On to this past week. A Hutch Cy Young "36" model went for $404. I'm always mixed on this glove. Obviously as an original HOFer it makes the glove highly coveted, but I think it looks like it is only so-so in terms of quality. I've never actually held one, so maybe I'm wrong here.

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A couple of Goldsmith first baseman's mitt sold this past week featuring the nice high notch with a buckleback. The lefty went for $154 and the righty for just $88 (maybe a result of poor pics). Neither glove was in pristine condition, but the styling makes them worth mentioning.

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And lastly is a Rawlings Lutzke or Beesting style glove. I was surprised to see this one go for just over $150. Lutzke gloves are very popular, and relatively rare, so despite the lining and tunnel loop damage I would have guessed we'd have seen it go for more. If I recall correctly, someone out there had a Rawlings Doak Lutzke styled glove (maybe Glovecrazy) what a unique glove. Other manufacturer's I know of with Lutzke gloves are Draper & Maynard (most well known?), Ken Wel, and Nokona. I'd have to assume Goldsmith and Spalding made them, but I can't recall seeing one recently.

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Postby vintagebrett » March 3rd, 2007, 12:14 pm

I really wanted to buy that Bertoia and was hoping no one would so the price would go down a bit. Unfortunately, crackofthebat ruined that option for me. Wonder if he knows I have a birthday coming up soon??? 8)
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Postby burker72 » March 3rd, 2007, 12:38 pm

Brett, have you seen the Bertoia model before, or the same style with a different endorsement? I've been collecting for about 9 years now and I'm pretty sure I've never seen it before.
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Postby vintagebrett » March 3rd, 2007, 7:14 pm

No, have not seen that style glove. After talking to Bill Sonnett III, it seems they made some gloves in very short supply. He mentioned they made a Bob Feller in 1957 for a convention - only produced about 4 he said. Apparently the Nelson Fox Sonnetts weren't mass produced either.
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The High Notch Base Mitt (the Righty)

Postby Mike**Mize » March 3rd, 2007, 7:34 pm

I won the little righty high notch base mitt and have been cleaning and conditioning it for a couple days. Turns out it's a great little glove. One fairly unique thing about it; and you really see this once it's softened up, is that all those folds you can see in the photo actually become a surprisingly deep pocket, once conditioned. It's so easy to generalize about these early base mitts as being basically flat. That's not the case with this one. Instead, it has a nice deep bowl shaped pocket. Big relief too, all the finger slots are there and once I added a small strip of vintage black binding up top, it looks very complete and nice. :D
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Postby burker72 » March 3rd, 2007, 10:10 pm

Mike, could you post a pic of the basemitt now that it is cleaned it up? I'm sure between the cleaning and a bit better pic I think it'll be interesting to see the end product.
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Postby vintagebrett » March 6th, 2007, 1:02 pm

Here are Mike's pics of the Goldsmith 1B mitt after cleaning:

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Postby burker72 » March 7th, 2007, 7:50 am

Mike, thanks for sharing the pics. The glove looks really great. I have an old Davega baseman's mitt that I haven't really touched in a while, maybe this will motivate me to spend some time on it...

Some times the leather in the older gloves has a more delicate feel to it (not all, but some gloves) and it seems like you can't give it as vigorous a cleaning, what did you use to clean it up?

Also, where is the black binding you mentioned - is it the piece spanning the web?
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Postby Mike**Mize » March 7th, 2007, 11:35 am

Hello Burker,
Glad you like the glove. These pics are from a few days ago. I've actually gone a little further with it since then. You might notice that the back of the glove in the pictures still has quite a bit of black soot on it in places. If I really like a glove, I don't rest until I'm pretty sure I've gotten it as clean and soft as possible. I'm also still trying to find a model # so that I can look it up in the Source Book. That's part of the fun, too.
I use a wide variety of techniques for cleaning up old gloves. This particular one made of very tough leather, so it can get fairly wet in cleaning. I use Horseman's One-Step, Sadddle soap, an old toothbrush for scrubbing stains, cotton rags cut up for old t shirts, q-tips, and flushable wipes. I use the one-step first to see what the lining and finger slots are like, going in very slowly with my fingers to avoid tearing. Once I can get my hand in the glove and I've begun to clean the inside, I do a general cleaning of the back and front with one-step and cotton rags. Then I let the whole glove dry. From there I use saddle soap and wipes or one-step and wipes and/or a toothbrush and deal with specific trouble spots..and wipe all that off and let the glove dry out. From there, once it's dry, I sometimes use whats called a kneaded erasure (I'm also an artist/painter. Kneaded erasures are available in art supply stores.). This gummy putty-like erasure picks up grease and will lighten leather. It is extremely non-abrasive so that it will not damage the thin skin of the leather. I used it some on this glove and was pretty pleased to see real color coming forth as a result. I've used it on white gloves with good success as well. Anything harder, even a pink pearl erasure can skin delicate leathers and wreck 'em. Once it's as clean as it's going to be (or another glove arrives and it's time to move on), I put about a thimble's full of one-step all over the glove spread out very thin and put it up on the shelf, take pictures, and return to my easel. :D I used a 2" piece of scrap binding off an old cut up 20's Wards glove I have in my small pile of scrap gloves. I use all kinds of stuff from this scrap pile. Lace, binding, horsehide, you name it. I just like to try to keep repairs simple and home-done. The binding piece filled in the small space at the top of the notch.
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