by Mr. Mitt » October 11th, 2010, 5:01 pm
William (Number9) has cleaned several gloves for me, all of which came back much, much better than I could have done myself. He does as little or as much as you want and never, ever alters a glove unless you give him the go-ahead to do so. For years I've been against restoration, mainly because the work I've seen resulted in complete butcher jobs. William has drastically changed my thinking on this subject because he uses original parts from donor examples, usually from the same manufacturer. In short, he's a true artist and I would trust no one else to the task of cleaning, relacing, refurbishing or restoring a vintage glove.
To the winner of the Ken-Wel zipper-back mitt. Given the Gloversville, NY patch, there is no question that it is a Gehrig model 632 (Utica, NY patches may or may not be Gehrigs because Ken-Wel continued to produce the zipper-back after losing Gehrig's endorsement). I urge you to send it to William, at least for a cleaning. If there are any remnants of stampings left, he will find them with proper cleaning and leather conditioning. If you want to take it a step further, the fact that he has, on hand, an original Ken-Wel zipper apparatus, makes the decision a no brainer. Get it done right, it will make you happier to have it in your collection and its value will increase much more than whatever the cost will be to get the work done correctly.