Auction Item Details
Lot 76
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Lot Number: 76
Description: 1886 "Defiance Base Ball Club, Champions" silver trophy ball. Presentational ball done in metal is engraved, "Presented To, Defiance Base Ball Club, Champions 1886, by L.M. Woolf & Son, Johnstown PA." Also carved into the surface is stitching which simulates the looks of a baseball. A newspaper article dated March 29, 1886 and published in the Altoona Times notes that "The Defiance Base Ball Club has organized for the season of 1886..." and goes on to list a roster of players. Two more mentions of the club (presumably the same which is referenced on this ball) can be found in small town papers dated from July of the same year and Defiance is noted as winning both games. Woolf was a prominent citizen of Johnstown and operated a store which was unfortunately destroyed a few years later in the Johnstown Flood. The offered is one of a few remaining examples of an early "silver trophy ball" which would have been presented to a Championship base ball team in honor of their winning season. While little record of the Defiance team can be sourced today they were clearly a point of pride for the local citizenry. There is mild surface wear and tarnish throughout the silver plating and a few scattered dents and impressions (one effecting engraved portion): VG-EXEstimated Price Range: ($3,000-$5,000)
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