Whenever I get an item I try to add some historical context to it. What is the story behind the item? - it adds some much more meaning to an item and creates a greater connection to the piece.
This innocuous early football cabinet had been staring at meet for months on ebay. It was initially over-priced and just didn’t call out to me (partially because it is a bit roached, and the seller could not identify it other than “Cornell”). I finally pulled the trigger with a $30 offer that was accepted. When it arrived I took an initial stab at identifying the team, but gave up after a while. Finally put some more effort into it, an identified the team as 1906, and a pretty successful team coached by “Pop” Warner.
From a yearbook I was able to pull many images of the games the team played…this picture of crowd waiting for the Returns from the Princeton game gives an idea of how important the team and football was in the fabric of people’s lives back then…… Suddenly this $30 item has so much more “value” to me.
http://antiquesportscollector.com/CUFBCabinet.html
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