Fans Speak

What's the value of this ring?

Dear Guru,

Hi my name is Jacob Dickie, your site is very informative. I am from Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. I have been collecting since I was very young. I have a ring that nobody has been able to tell me about. This all started back in 1992, when my father was at an auction and bought this ring along with other things. So my mother and I started researching about the history of this ring. We connected with many places in the United States, and nobody seemed to know about the history of it. We went as far as contacting Cooperstown, New York. The staff there didn't know anything about the ring, and haven't even heard about it, they said it would be like finding a needle in a hay stack. We also had an article written up about the ring in our local News Paper, many people where making offers. But we still didn't get any history on it. My mother was also on News Radio talk show trying to find information from some baseball historians, they themselves didn't know anything either. We also contacted the New York Yankees about this ring and nothing came out of that either. The ring is not made of precious medal. It has a baseball in the center of it, with two stars centered on the sides of the face. The dates 1839 to 1939 are inside the ball on the face of the ring. Around the face of the ring it says Baseball Centennial. On the sides of the ring there is a hitter hitting a ball. We have spent many exhausting hours researching this, but have yet to turn up with any information. We would like to know its history such as how many were circulated and how many are still around, what its values are and maybe a place to sell an item like this. We are looking to sell this ring providing there is enough history known about it. Thanks for your time and effort in helping us with this mystery.

Yours truly,

Jacob Dickie

Guru's Reponse

Jacob,

Fascinating. I love a good sleuthing opportunity. The dates are good clues and so is the non-precious stone aspect. This is not a World Series ring. Questions I would like to solve are: does the ring have anything to do with major league baseball? And, where did the ring originate?

Al Spalding, a former MLB pitcher and later a league executive led a campaign in 1904 to determine the origins of baseball. They falsely attributed it to Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, NY in 1839. So your idea of going to Cooperstown was smart because your ring publicizes the false 1839 date. The original rules for baseball were drawn up by Alexander Cartwright Jr., 1845, in New York City.

Meanwhile, the 1939-1940 Worlds Fair was held in New York City. Here is a link to a web site, which has information about it. I would definitely visit the site and email them.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/DISPLAY/39wf/front.htm

It is my hunch that your ring was made to be sold as a souvenir at the fair. That Worlds Fair promoted American ideals and a ring commemorating baseball's 100th anniversary would be an ideal sale item.

Good luck with the ring. Enjoy it!

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