Posted By:
AnonymousHi Guys,
I like this one! I know some of you may not be too interested in cricket items but for me it is an integral part of early baseball's development.
The item in question is a circa 1858 ambrotype of a boy holding a ball in one hand and a cricket bat in the other. Those of you who are interested in early dags and ambrotypes will know just how difficult it is to find them with any props at all never mind sports equipment (photographers would not let their subjects - adults never mind kids - hold anything due to the likely blurring of the picture due to even the slightest movement during the 1 or so minutes it took to burn the image).
They are so difficult to find in fact that it is rumoured that there are only 8 baseball dag/amro solid types know to exist and even then I think there is only about 1 of those that actually shows equipment (most are like the Knickerbockers Dag or the Cartwright ambro/dags, picturing known players in street clothes - no equipment)
The other interesting thing is that it is not English either but comes from Brooklyn. It was purchased from a US dealer and has a NY Studio stamp on the back of the frame. As you know in the 1850's in NY, cricket was even more popular than baseball and even had the Wright family as devout followers!
Anyway, enough of my ramblings, I hope you find the images of interest.
