This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/24/2014
Some say the history of baseball dates back to 1839 and a gentleman by the name of Abner Doubleday who was widely credited with inventing the sport in a cow pasture in Cooperstown, New York. Others believe the sport evolved sometime in the md-1800’s as a result of the English and Gaelic games of “rounders” and “cricket.” Whichever the case, baseball is America’s pastime and the sport continues to endure. This collection of eleven 19th Century folk art baseball figures represents a period piece of extraordinary hand-carved work by Albert Wideman. Each of the painted figures reflects the clothing of the time including knickers, high stockings and small-brim ball caps. The lacquer board upon which each of the 11 players is positioned, which measures 17” wide x 12” deep x two inches high, no doubt came after the figures were finished and shows by virtue of two vacant peg holes that a 12th figure must have gone missing over the years. He tallest of the figures, showing a pitcher starting his windup, measures in at nine inches, while the shortest – a crouching second baseman, perhaps – is just four inches in height.
Includes a Letter of Provenance from the Helms Athletic Foundation/LA84 Collection