Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Always nice to start the month with a blockbuster auction. The super rare three finger VWD "Conqueror" model FTF sold for $1875. It's a really big glove, top of the line and in fantastic shape. The markings, cloth patch, logo button are great. The intact grommet web is like the cherry on top. I wonder if Mr. Mitt won this?

A Spalding glove box from the 1890's sold for $749. It is in great shape.
The box probably held a glove something like this 1896 model Splading.

A mint Rawlings G23 glove with box & hang tag sold for $875. Doesn't get much better!

Am I alone in thinking that Spalding box may be a fantasy piece?

I'd say it's good

vintagebrett wrote:Am I alone in thinking that Spalding box may be a fantasy piece?

agree with Brett

Out of genuine curiosity and the desire to learn something, there appear to be opposing views as to whether or not the Spalding box is legit or a fantasy piece. Yet nobody has weighed in with *why* they feel the way they do. Anyone care to elaborate?

I wonder why the glove box does not include Philadelphia. Other boxes of the period have all three offices; NY, Chicago, Phil.
Here is another 1890's ball box with only NY and Chicago offices printed. This is like the glove box above.

I don’t recall the year, but Spalding bought Reach for their baseball factory in Philadelphia. The box could be pre-acquisition, or they only felt the need to reference their main offices in NY and Chicago. I believe there are 19c baseball boxes that reference Denver too, but I could be mistaken.

I’m really curious what anyone is seeing that tips this box in the direction of fake. Everything in my eye looks correct.

Mike reached out to me a couple of months ago about this. Although I would never publish what anyone else wrote, I’m happy to share what I wrote. I never questioned the validity of the piece. I just questioned the era or date in which it was produced. The Spalding No. 15 was produced from 1896 and well into the 1930’s. Lucky for us as a hobby that we have such a complete run of Spalding catalogs in which to research. (Thanks again everybody, please keep 'em coming!) When I first saw the pic, why did I immediately start in the 20's and not the 90's?

I then zeroed in on the word “Infielders”. The No. 15 Infielders Glove was produced until 1921. In fact, it had the same list price of $1.00 from 1896 to 1916. So, in my opinion, this Spalding No. 15 could have been anywhere from 1896 to 1916.

Click on the snips of my e-mail below to enlarge and see. Always happy to give my two cents worth, even though that may be all it’s worth. Great piece, whatever it is!

JD

The Spalding logo on the glove box is correct for the 1890's time period.
This logo is from the 1890's

This logo is from 1903-04

To me it just seemed kind of plain for a Spalding piece - the baseball boxes (dozen and single) from that time period seem more ornate. I’d definitely defer to William as he’s studied this time period more extensively than me.

JD, you own more boxes than anyone I know, do any of your earlier examples measure out at this size? Looks like it’s 7x9. Sounds small for anything bigger than a webless. I don’t know enough about it to pinpoint a year, but as Mike pointed out, that’s an 1890s logo.

I have a full web box that measures 9.5 x 10. I have a bunch of 1" web boxes that measure all over the place like 7.5 x 10 - 8 x 9.5 - 8 x 12 and 9 x 12. So for a box to be larger than a glove and only measure 7 x 9 would mean it's for a small glove, like perhaps a webless or a mid-line 1" web.

I dig it either way! I'm just not convinced yet about the year as I haven't researched all the Spalding logos of that time period and that's where the answer lies. The Spalding 15 and all Spalding 15 related models called Infielders gloves would have fit in that 7 x 9 box in my opinion.

JD

I'm with you on the model 15 having a long life at that price point. Nothing to argue there. The glove you posted above shows as a square on my screen. If it's anything taller than 7 inches it's not fitting in that box. That's not to say the box isn't for an early (or earlier) 20c model, just that that glove wouldn't fit inside that box. From Spalding's perspective, the order of progression would be to make a box that fits the glove, not to make a glove that fits the box.

Assuming a 'Men's size" glove is 8.5-9" in height, I'm going with a glove that measures closer to 7" in width as the model that fits inside that ebay box. I'm guessing the model you posted above is 8.5-9" tall, and the width dimension seems to be similar. I'd bet the glove model in your pic would be sold in a similarly sized (to the glove) box, probably 9x9".