c. 1858 Baseball Stiching Bench

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I can't argue with a word you wrote, Doug, and never would. The plaque is of some interest, but I believe that any kind of direct provenance to Harwood would have elevated the REA auction results by some multiple. I suppose it IS a baseball stitching bench, though, and if you could see the wood construction and the iron and leather pieces that make up the working parts of the contraption, it screams old, old, old. Other than that, pick your cliche of choice, starting with "it is what it is" through "find another one," etc. I appreciate your expertise and your reality check!

I don't have any expertise, I just get annoyed by misleading (to be polite) descriptions.

I think they're both super cool, and while I myself wouldn't buy one at the REA price, you seem to have paid an amount that I probably would have.

I think the one you bought may have been a prototype for the REA one, which would of course would give yours more value IF it had a plaque stating that "fact", hint hint. How's 1837 sound to you as a date?


And I'm perfectly happy for my points to be argued and TO SOME EXTENT completely change my mind when my points are shown to be incorrect.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

I think the one you bought may have been a prototype for the REA one, which would of course would give yours more value IF it had a plaque stating that "fact", hint hint. How's 1837 sound to you as a date?

Ha! I'm not the plaque-making type unless I know what I'm plaquing about. Whether whoever made the REA plaque did or did not is complete conjecture, as you point out. Mine does appear to be of the exact same construction as the other one, though, so I'm not sure why you might think it a prototype as opposed to another example of the same generation of its kind, perhaps the first but who knows?

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Ha! I'm not the plaque-making type unless I know what I'm plaquing about. Whether whoever made the REA plaque did or did not is complete conjecture, as you point out. Mine does appear to be of the exact same construction as the other one, though, so I'm not sure why you might think it a prototype as opposed to another example of the same generation of its kind, perhaps the first but who knows?

I'm not sure that it's a prototype, but if it had a plaque indicating that it was a prototype from, say 1775, then it's possible that it was also used to help shoe Paul Revere's horse which pretty much made it possible for America to be made great again (or not, haha) and so the value could be astronomical.

But that of course would TO SOME EXTENT involve a small, barely discernible, teeny tiny little leap of faith.

Doug "this is fun for me, I hope for you, too" Goodman

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

I'm not sure that it's a prototype, but if it had a plaque indicating that it was a prototype from, say 1775, then it's possible that it was also used to help shoe Paul Revere's horse which pretty much made it possible for America to be made great again (or not, haha) and so the value could be astronomical. But that of course would TO SOME EXTENT involve a small, barely discernible, teeny tiny little leap of faith. Doug "this is fun for me, I hope for you, too" Goodman

Or you could just keep beating your dead horse. In case you didn't notice, I get it, Doug. Hank "it is what it is, not what you, me, or REA says it is " Thomas.