ANTIQUE

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ANTIQUE HORSESHOE COLLECTION

TO VIEW THE BOB DUNN HORSESHOE COLLECTION CLICK OPTIONS BELOW:
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Antique horseshoes have become collector items over the past years. The evolution of the horseshoes used in organized horseshoe sports has been rather slow. When the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association was organized in 1900 the rules and regulations were developed including the standardization of the shoes that would be sanctioned by National Horseshoe Pitchers Association for use in sanctioned tournaments. Shoes have developed into two basic classes, antique hookless and modern hooked models. The really early shoes were thought to be round shoes used by the Roman Soldiers. These were called quoits. Later the shoes evolved into the open-ended shoe used today.

In 2002, Bob Dunn, a Minnesota horseshoe pitcher, published 'THE SHOE', The Horseshoe Traders and Collectors Handbook, that is now the Horseshoe Collector's Bible. Bob released a revised edition in 2005 that may be available. Contact Bob at 6417 Georgia Ave. North, Brooklyn, MN 55420 if you would want purchase a copy. To read The Horseshoe Trader articles published in the NHPA Newsline magazine Click Here

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SELECTED ANTIQUE FROM THE TEDRICK COLLECTION

EARLY HOOKLESS MODELS

EMC
This shoe probably dates from the 1930. The identify of the manufacturing company remains a puzzle accord to Dunn. The EMC on this shoe was probably hand stamped and located on the top ;of the shoe on the up side.

OHIO - 1925
This is probably the oldest shoe in my collection. The Ohio Horseshoe Company is the First and Oldest and Longest Company to produce pitching horseshoes according to Dunn. The company was producing horseshoes in 1921 and is still producing the OHIO shoe at present. The earliest date stamped on the Ohio Shoe was 1922. The date was located under the toe of the shoe. The date on my shoe is under the side of the toe.

OHIO - 1950
The Ohio Shoe above illustrates the changes of shoe design since 1925. The addition of the hooks on the toes and the addition of the ringer breaker at the heel chalk and the flatting of the shoe blades have been the main design changes from the early hookless shoes. This basic design is found in the current models.

OFFICIAL OCTIGAN
The OFFICAL or OFFICIAL shoe above was sold under the T.J Octagon label in the late 1920's. Some shoes were labeled the the raised lettering and some with recessed bold lettering like the above model, according to Dunn. Some have the correct spelling and others the 'Offical' spelling. The model above has the Official spelling in the bold recess format indicating it is probably a later model of the hookless shoes.

SEARS OVAL

The 'Sears Oval' was a brandless shoe that was first sold by Sears in 1923. The oval shape of the blades lead to the name 'Oval' by horseshoe pitchers. The early 'Ovals' sold for $1.25 as compared to today's going price well over $50.00 got most professional models. The early brand name shoe was the 'President' manufactured by Chicago Steel foundry. Over the decades Sears has sold many brand named shoes including Diamond Horseshoe Company shoes. Other brand names included Leaders, J.C.Higgins, Gordons and several picnic type shoe as complete sets with stakes included.

OTHER MODELS
1 23
LEE BRASS-1 EAGLE RINGER-2 OHIO-3

456
PLAYTIME-4 REGENT-5 TOP RINGER-6
789
DEADEYE-7 LEADER-8 OCTAGON-9

TWO SHOES NEVER FOUND

Writing articles about shoes that no one/ including myself, has ever seen can be a bit difficult. Sometimes the only information is a one-time ad found from 70 years ago or an old rules brochure that turned up at an antique shop. This article will attempt to talk about two shoes that I doubt any present-day members have ever seen or even heard about. No ads have been found for these two shoes. We don�t even know if the shoes actually progressed to the stage of production and being a marketed shoe. Then why write about them? The shoes are interesting. Both shoes were patented/ both shoes probably had prototypes developed and just maybe someone, somewhere, sometime may come across one. This way we all have a chance to know what we may have found when we find it! Here we have a little bit of history that deserves a mention, not to be ignored, lost in time or forgotten.

In 1935, Lewis LaVoice of Springfield, MA, applied for a patent on his newly designed shoe. (Figure 1.) That patent was approved June 2, 1936, with one-half of the patent being assigned to Earl Rowe, also from Springfield. There is no mention of the relationship of the two individuals and after some research, nothing turned up about either as far as being known promoters or players of the game. No doubt, Rowe had entered into some agreement in the production of the shoe.

The shoe design at first glance seems typical to the other shoes of the day, but actually the convex or protruding ringer breaker was a first. Several shoes from that period were promoting the concave or inverted ringer breakers. The angle of the inner edge of the hooks was far more extreme than other shoes and verges on innovative. The stated value of the design was to slide more true on the dirt up to the stake rather than bounce erratically or off the stake.

Our second shoe was designed by Melvin Flick of Stillwater, Oklahoma.( Figure 2) He applied for patent on September 20, 1935 and received approval June 30, 1936. The draft supplied with the application is the only evidence we have of this shoe, but gives indicators that are dead give-aways for identification, if one is ever found. This is the only hooked shoe known to have round or peg style calks. William Martin did have a hookless shoe with peg calks, but the Flick shoe is the only hooked shoe with that shoe design.

Mr. Flick�s patent applications are one of the few that references the National Association or their rules for shoe dimensions. This surely indicates that he was a pitcher and member of the NHPA, but after doing some research, his name didn�t come up anywhere as a pitcher of note. He also redefined the parts of the shoe, as we know them. This series has used many terms to describe various parts of a shoe, most of which has been derived from old rules brochures, etc. Most references have been made to hooks, calks and the toe of the shoe. Well, here�s how Mr. Flick termed the parts in his dialog. The toe is the �crown�, the blade is a �leg�, the hooks are �prongs�, calks are �caulks� and the ringer breaker is a �spur�. I can only image what the term would have been, if his shoe had an inverted ringer breaker. Probably the �dent�

Are we eventually going to find one of these shoes or both for that matter? Who knows? The point is, even if that does not happen, at least we still know about them and that is the real importance. Click on the URL below to view the entire list of 'The Horseshoe Trader' articles.

www.http://www.horseshoepitching.com/dunn/traderindex.html

Figure 1. Figure 2.

Source: Newsline - Nov/Dec Issue - 2002

This page last updated 8/30/10