I believe that you are correct regarding the Spalding club. At the rear of Indian Clubs and Dumb Bells by J.H. Dougherty there is an advertisement for a Spalding exhibition club that looks very like the one you show: "Handsomely finished in ebonite and made for exhibition and stage purposes". The one you show matches No. AA which is "finished with German silver".
Great presentation and narration. Extremely informative. Who could ask for more? Oh I would, I look forward to viewing any future videos on the subject. God bless you and your lovely family.
Thanks so much, Fred! We have many videos lined up! One coming this Saturday on a rare antique. Then the one on the short agile wand as soon as I can edit it. Thanks again for your kind words, they give us hope to keep going! :)
I love it! Informative, simple, and shows off a lot of different styles. You forgot 1 big reason that clubs were hollow..... "deception". The super huge hollow clubs that Gus Hill and other performing "strongmen" used, were to deceive his audience (did anyone really believe he was swinging 125 lb clubs? lol
Hi Todd- thanks, and yes, absolutely! This was just a short Bronwyn threw together to look at a few clubs. But we plan on doing a much longer video that comprehensively addresses the question: “what were all the reasons as to why Indian clubs were hollow”? And mention the “cheater” clubs. Actually, at this point I’ve come across six or seven totally different reasons as to why they were made hollow. And we have a couple of those weird ones in our collection-like some undecorated clubs that are only half hollowed out, with the weight distribution toward the bottom, so clearly not exhibition clubs. Definitely a big topic and there was some interesting thinking as to why they were doing these things!
I like that you weighed the clubs. Nice touch. Maybe find examples of the exact same clubs that aren't hollow and show the weight difference. Also, for weighted clubs you can show how the water is still evaporating from them 100 years later (if you ever weigh an antique heavy club like a 7 pounder, it will now weigh closer to 6lbs because of decades of extra curing).
Todd - yes, great idea about showing the weight difference! I’ll do that for the longer video. Re: the evaporation thing… I often see people remarking on the internet that they think the difference in actual and stated weight was an attempt to cheat the buyer, or to trick the audience like the giant hollow clubs! So there seems to be some misinformation out there from folks who don’t know about the dessication / evaporation issue. So yeah, that would be another great topic!
I believe that you are correct regarding the Spalding club. At the rear of Indian Clubs and Dumb Bells by J.H. Dougherty there is an advertisement for a Spalding exhibition club that looks very like the one you show: "Handsomely finished in ebonite and made for exhibition and stage purposes". The one you show matches No. AA which is "finished with German silver".
Great presentation and narration. Extremely informative. Who could ask for more? Oh I would, I look forward to viewing any future videos on the subject. God bless you and your lovely family.
Thanks so much, Fred! We have many videos lined up! One coming this Saturday on a rare antique. Then the one on the short agile wand as soon as I can edit it. Thanks again for your kind words, they give us hope to keep going! :)
I love it! Informative, simple, and shows off a lot of different styles. You forgot 1 big reason that clubs were hollow..... "deception". The super huge hollow clubs that Gus Hill and other performing "strongmen" used, were to deceive his audience (did anyone really believe he was swinging 125 lb clubs? lol
Hi Todd- thanks, and yes, absolutely! This was just a short Bronwyn threw together to look at a few clubs. But we plan on doing a much longer video that comprehensively addresses the question: “what were all the reasons as to why Indian clubs were hollow”? And mention the “cheater” clubs. Actually, at this point I’ve come across six or seven totally different reasons as to why they were made hollow. And we have a couple of those weird ones in our collection-like some undecorated clubs that are only half hollowed out, with the weight distribution toward the bottom, so clearly not exhibition clubs. Definitely a big topic and there was some interesting thinking as to why they were doing these things!
Great video! I had no idea these clubs shown in old photos were or could have been hollow.
I like that you weighed the clubs. Nice touch. Maybe find examples of the exact same clubs that aren't hollow and show the weight difference. Also, for weighted clubs you can show how the water is still evaporating from them 100 years later (if you ever weigh an antique heavy club like a 7 pounder, it will now weigh closer to 6lbs because of decades of extra curing).
Todd - yes, great idea about showing the weight difference! I’ll do that for the longer video. Re: the evaporation thing… I often see people remarking on the internet that they think the difference in actual and stated weight was an attempt to cheat the buyer, or to trick the audience like the giant hollow clubs! So there seems to be some misinformation out there from folks who don’t know about the dessication / evaporation issue. So yeah, that would be another great topic!