Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Anything related to gloves (pre-1970) you can post here.

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby mikesglove » August 24th, 2014, 2:50 pm

Thanks! The internet searches can turn up a lot of fascinating history. I especially like finding an address from an old sporting goods advertisement and using the Google "Street View" to ferret out old and abandoned sporting goods factories. The one who started it all is Joe Phillips, known on the forum as softball66 or on ebay as bubbared. I think you can still find his "Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Source Book" on ebay which includes a history of the major sporting goods companies and baseball glove equipment catalogs. It is really invaluable. Also, there are still copies of Joe's bimonthly newsletter, "The Glove Collector" on ebay from time to time. He started it in 1989 and kept it going for about 20 years. Joe dedicated a lot of time and energy in presenting detailed information on glove companies, ballplayers and of course glove collecting. Also, be sure to register on Jim Daniels site, http://www.baseballglovecollector.com. Besides the awesome glove photos from collectors, there is a lot of historical and pictorial info available in the "Glove Library" section.
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby mikesglove » October 14th, 2014, 8:56 pm

Here is a radical looking 1930's KenWel glove made for Vandervoort Hardware. It's a "Gordon Slade" model 530 with lacing up the pinky in addition to the trademark KenWel finger lacing. No other way into the padding except through the pinky lacing. Pretty cool look to the glove. Glad the cloth patch and pocket stamps remained intact.
Image

Image

Image


Image
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby vintagebrett » October 15th, 2014, 7:14 am

That's a sharp looking glove! Similar to the VWD from the teens that was laced up the side - I think there was a Reach model too.
User avatar
vintagebrett
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3150
Joined: April 17th, 2006, 3:57 pm
Location: East Granby, CT

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby mikesglove » October 28th, 2014, 7:40 pm

I couldn't find a lace-up 'teens era VWD glove but here is one from 1924.
Image


Here is the A.J. Reach model from 1925.
Image
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby rdb34 » December 30th, 2016, 3:03 pm

Mike,

Found this glove at a flea market over the summer( fun note: Hippie Tom of American Pickers was selling at the both next door, got to shake his hand). I've showed it to a few forum members and they all said the same thing that it was a Pinelli model. The big feature that threw me off was, in all the available glove pictures the leather tabs have double lacing, the glove I found had a single lace ran thru the grommets on the tabs.

It took me awhile to get the glove this presentable, unfortunately the only time any stampings become visible is when I'm conditioning it.


Hope you enjoy the pics,

Richie
Attachments
IMG_3441.jpg
IMG_3442.jpg
IMG_3443.jpg
rdb34
Veteran Glove Poster
 
Posts: 105
Joined: January 4th, 2010, 10:47 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby mikesglove » December 30th, 2016, 5:26 pm

That's a great find! The fact that it has only the single eyelet through the leather flaps is super cool. It is early, early in the Ken-Wel laced finger development. The patch, button and overall condition is excellent. A real survivor! I know Pinelli endorsed the double laced model in the 1924 catalog. I think yours may pre-date that. The 1923 catalog is not complete unfortunately. Here's the patent drawing for your glove. Notice the flaps on all four fingers. Your close-up photo shows the pinky flap torn off at some point. All in all though, a landmark glove!
23kenwel.JPG
Last edited by mikesglove on December 31st, 2016, 5:04 am, edited 8 times in total.
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby glovejunkie » December 30th, 2016, 7:41 pm

Richie,

Can you send me an email....I'd love to chat with you about that glove;)

glovejunkie@yahoo.com

Eric
glovejunkie
Veteran Glove Poster
 
Posts: 115
Joined: August 7th, 2013, 1:15 pm

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby Number9 » January 4th, 2017, 7:01 pm

rdb34 wrote:Mike,

Found this glove at a flea market over the summer( fun note: Hippie Tom of American Pickers was selling at the both next door, got to shake his hand). I've showed it to a few forum members and they all said the same thing that it was a Pinelli model. The big feature that threw me off was, in all the available glove pictures the leather tabs have double lacing, the glove I found had a single lace ran thru the grommets on the tabs.

It took me awhile to get the glove this presentable, unfortunately the only time any stampings become visible is when I'm conditioning it.


Hope you enjoy the pics,

Richie


Richie, that's incredible. Definitely one of the coolest flea market finds I've heard of in the glove world in quite some time. Congrats!
Huntington Base Ball Co.
www.HuntingtonBaseBallCo.com
User avatar
Number9
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 510
Joined: September 12th, 2006, 12:31 am
Location: Boston

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby rdb34 » February 1st, 2017, 1:10 pm

Thanks for the compliments on the Ken-Wel. I can't wait for the 1923 catalog to pop up. Although, I have a feeling this glove might not be in there anyway. My reasoning is that the leather tabs on the back of the fingers was probably a quality control nightmare. Not only to manufacture but the inherent weakness of the design. It probably didn't take long to figure out that installing the grommets directly in the fingers as opposed to the tabs was way stronger.


I like to imagine they gave this glove to a player to try out. The pinky tab broke on the first hot smash and we have the Dazzy Vance model.
rdb34
Veteran Glove Poster
 
Posts: 105
Joined: January 4th, 2010, 10:47 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby vintagebrett » May 25th, 2017, 2:30 pm

With a little help from JD in identification, here is a very early Ken-Wel label. Gotta love the K made of bats surrounded by a ball. Too bad the cloth label isn't in better shape.

earlykenwel1.jpg

earlykenwel2.jpg

earlykenwel3.jpg
User avatar
vintagebrett
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3150
Joined: April 17th, 2006, 3:57 pm
Location: East Granby, CT

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby ebbets55 » May 25th, 2017, 5:20 pm

Love it! Fantastic pickup. Only the second time I've seen that logo. Pre-'20 Ken Wels are just about extinct. Glad to see another turn up.

JD
User avatar
ebbets55
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 835
Joined: August 8th, 2006, 5:14 pm
Location: So-Cal

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby mikesglove » April 11th, 2019, 2:32 pm

Here is a Ken-Wel ad from the 1919 Gloversville city directory.
Image
It would be nice if some pre-1922 Ken-Wel catalogs surfaced. Until then, we'll just have to sleuth it out. The factory at the address listed was torn down in 1930 to make way for apartments. Prior to the factory on Yale St., gloves were made at the factory of Bert Kennedy in Johnstown. His factory was the impetus to start Ken-Wel.

Here are the crossed bat logos of the two pre-1922 gloves/mitts mentioned above. The first one appears to be stamped Johnstown and the second appears to be stamped with a faint Ken-Wel
ImageImage

The first cloth patch is from the catchers mitt above. The second is from a 1922 glove. Although the colors are different, I can see a similarity in the football shaped oval and lettering.
Image
Sketching the first logo looks something like this:
Image

It's easy to see the similarity of the wrist strap pattern on the pre-1922 mitt on the left and the 1924 mitt to the right. That strap pattern was used by Ken-Wel for many years.
ImageImage
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: Ken-Wel and the Kennedy Brothers

Postby mikesglove » April 12th, 2019, 5:44 pm

The Crossed bats "K" logo is typical KenWel, creative and a little offbeat. Around 1922, Kenwel introduced Art Deco inspired and folksy street sign logo.
Image

The Burns model was Ken-Wel's flagship model in 1922.
Image

Their second in line was a Kenoko Elk glove.
This 562 Elk model was mis-stamped at the factory
Image
An "ELK 5__P" was stamped over the street sign logo.
Image
The 562 Elk glove appears to have white piping but that's not the case.
Image

Below is a different model 562S Elk glove that tells the before and after tale.
Piping just dry as a bone! Calling Dr. Jackson!
Image

Besides the cool grommet web on this 562S model, the logo stamps are super.
Image
Image
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Previous

Return to Vintage Glove Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 33 guests