A couple months ago I was able to buy a 1907 Wm. Read catalog. When I opened it, I was very excited because it was the first catalog I have that pictured the famous wrist strap on the catchers mitt. Based on the descriptions, it looks like the feature was available on many different models.
I've been chasing the only known example with wrist strap for many, many years. I was very surprised at the National to have the opportunity to finally add it to my collection. Photographs of this mitt do not do it justice - it needs to be see in person to appreciate how large it is and all of the cool features. Surprisingly, it is a model 400M which is about 5 models from the top line.