Heard it through the
Grapevine
A ping-pong ball is light; a ball of solid coal is not. Did the seller actually try to launch a ball of coal? It might have gone one inch. (And unable to launch a glass target ball, period.) What really springs to mind is, “Why don’t people think?”
What’s It Like to be Robbed at Gun Point? Especially when it is with a 1914 wooden child’s toy By Ralph Finch It’s not the first time I’ve seen it done. I’ve been a witness to a crime before. It’s when an uneducated eBay seller offers an “Antique hand-held pitch or glass target ball launcher with pitch ball-circa 1914.” And this item, worth maybe $25 (more if complete) sold for $510 plus $10 shipping! There were four bids, which means: Four uneducated bidders or two uneducated bidders who bid twice. Sigh … Whatever, there is an eBay seller in Stillwater, Minn., who should be embarrassed. But, likely, he won’t be. People who don’t bother to inform themselves with a little research are happy not to be educated. (That’s how we end up with some of the politicians we get.) When I look at a few eBayers I’m reminded of American author and social critic H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) who is said to have written: “Nobody ever went broke
4
Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” OK, if you aren’t familiar with this, and most people aren’t, a little research will reveal that this is a kid’s toy that didn’t launch a target ball, but a ping-pong ball. And not only that, this device is incomplete. The original toy had a little catcher on the end. You’d shoot your ping-pong ball to another gamer and he’d try to catch the ball on his “gun.” A little history of this toy. When I produced a journal for target ball collectors, this item was often brought to my attention. I even owned one, just for the heck of it, and it could barely toss a ping-pong ball more than a few inches. In Issue XLVIII (Spring, 2011) I wrote (edited): One just sold for $50.99. In fact, two of these seven-inches-long toys have been sold as target ball throwers in the past, one for $300 in 1991, and another for $1,310!!! Another one of these, identical except for the printing of “Sporta” on the side, revealed that it was patented Jan. 23, 1914, by Harry A. Gould of St. Louis (Patent 1,100,728 for a “TOY PISTOL.”).
We’ll Drink to That (Not) Dear Readers, There are so many things collected in the States, but as you start looking around the world, things get even more different. Even strange. Ralph Finch made a visit to a recent Kiwi Auction in New Zealand and found something pretty much guaranteed you won’t see in the States (he hopes): “A 330mm tall china figure of Hongi Hika, the famous New Zealand Maori Chief, whose head forms the stopper for this Jim Beam decanter (empty).” If you wanted to collect this, it’s too late. It sold for $180 (NZ)!
