Antiques: Bowling balls down the lanes of time
Last week, we talked about football helmets, a critical piece of gear for a team sport that is outside, full contact, big money, and revered by millions.
This week, let's cover the bowling ball: another vital bit of gear, but for a sport that is inside, individual, no contact (except for the occasional high-five) and occasionally watched live by a few dozen people. All the same, bowling of one sort or another has been around since ancient times, and millions of people have tried their hand at it over the years. Top professional bowlers make a pittance of what pro football stars do, but it requires no less talent, albeit of a different sort.
Let's get the ball rolling.
Bowling as a thing to do dates back to at least 3200 B.C., with the earliest indications coming from Egypt. At first, it appears to have been a child's game, with balls and pins made in miniature. Later, Roman Legionaries took up the sport and lawn bowling was a regular activity in Europe during the second millennium.
In the 16th century, British king Henry VIII was an avid bowler, going so far as to ban bowling among the unwashed masses and installing outdoor bowling lanes in his palace. Insofar as he later died morbidly obese, the pastime likely steadied his state of mind — if not his health and fitness.
As early as the 17th century, bowling had made its way across the pond with early references in the American media. By 1875, bowling alleys had been opened (one notably in New York's Knickerbocker Hotel), associations were underway, and the Brunswick Corporation of Chicago was getting ready to introduce a commercial line of balls, lanes, and pins. Most bowling alleys were initially associated with bars and saloons, but Prohibition in the 1930s served to reposition the sport as more of a family activity.
If there was a golden age to bowling in America, it was the middle to late mid-century era, when bowling was hugely popular and the top pros were widely known. Since then, well, things have slowed considerably.
As for bowling balls, the earliest versions were little more than corn husks wrapped in leather. They were without finger holes, requiring the tricky business of balancing the ball in the palm of your hand during wind-up. Most were not exactly round, either, a feature that didn't much help accuracy.
Nonetheless, the weight and roundness of bowling balls improved as time went by, and by the dawn of the 20th century, balls made of wood were available that included two finger holes and much-improved consistency. The wood of choice was usually lignum vitae, among the world's hardest lumbers, and one often used for such heavyweight objects as maritime pulleys. Later, balls made of rubber, plastic and urethane came to dominate the sport.
Today, technology has muscled its way into bowling ball production with two- and even three-piece balls made from space-age materials. There are exacting specifications for competition balls, including size (to the hundredth of an inch), hardness, roughness, external markings and even coefficient of friction. So, there's something rather refreshing about an old-school bowling ball made of wood and nothing else.
Occasionally, a classic turn-of-the-century wood ball in a tattered Brunswick bag will show up in antique galleries like ours, and old-timers will get misty-eyed as they recall days gone by. The trophies may be gone, too, but the best part — the memories — remain.
Mike Rivkin and his wife, Linda, are longtime residents of Rancho Mirage. For many years, he was an award-winning catalogue publisher and has authored seven books, along with countless articles. Now, he's the owner of Antique Galleries of Palm Springs. His antiques column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Want to send Mike a question about antiques? Drop him a line at info@silverfishpress.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Antiques: Bowling balls down the lanes of time
