The Table Tennis
Collector
40
Spring
2006
Journal of the Table Tennis Collectors’ Society
The ITTF Museum
In this issue ...
o
o
o
o
A Salute to Graham Trimming page 2
Pre-1900 Ping Pong Evidence? page 3
A Canadian Mystery page 3
The 1936 Transatlantic Ping Pong Flight
--- Flotation ball found page 4
o 1937 World Championship Bronze Medal page 4
o Ping Pong Craze-y! page 5
o Update from ebay pages 6-8
No. 40
o Nicaragua 1949 Stamps & Covers page 9
o Baden 1933 WC cachet found page 9
o World Championship Philately pages 10-11
by Hans-Peter Trautmann & Winfried Engelbrecht
o Philatelic Update from Jos Zinkstok pages 12-13
o The Membership pages 14-15
o Farewell Angelica page 15
o Cigarette box, by Gerald Gurney page 16
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 1
The Table
Tennis
Collector
Thank you Graham!
On behalf of the Table Tennis Collectors’ Society membership I want to extend
our gratitude to our distinguished colleague Graham Trimming for his heroic
efforts in editing and publishing the Table Tennis Collector for the past three
years. Given the demands of your responsibilities as Chairman of the
Cippenham Table Tennis Club, pending marriage & new home, you should be
rightly proud of a job well done Graham. Chuck
We can all be very grateful to Graham - first of all for taking up the editorship of
the magazine and then for making such a good job of it. He was always sure to
be “a safe pair of hands” but he soon proved himself more than that; he brought
a more professional preentation than I could achieve with a typewriter and also
introduced innovations such as the reports from eBay. And we send him our
very best wishes for his marriage. Gerald
Bremen World Championships Exhibit
40
S pring 2006
Editor:
Chuck Hoey, Curator
ITTF Museum, Switzerland
www.ittf.com/museum
[email protected]
The ITTF Museum will continue its travelling exhibit at the AWD Dome in
Bremen, for the World Team Championships. The exhibit will be 270 square
meters, in 3 main sections: Technical/Evolution, Culture and ITTF/Sport History.
The exhibit will include a mini-theater showing vintage Table Tennis films, and a
Celebrity Photo Gallery with a Guess Who? motif. An illustrated World
Championship Timeline history will also be featured, along with some computer
games.
I hope to meet some of the Collectors’ Society members during the exhibits.
There will be a swap meet on Monday 24 April, from 12 noon to 5pm, in the
entrance area of Hall 6 at the AWD Dome. The DTTB is offering free entrance
to the venue for the collectors & one accompanying person, and each collector
can have one table for their materials. Interested collectors should confirm their
participation and contact Mrs. Silke Wunderlich Tel: 0049/69/695019-16 Fax: 33, e-mail: [email protected] See you in Bremen !
From the Editor
This is the first issue of the Table Tennis Collector series to be
published by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)
Museum. Because of the upcoming World Championships in
Bremen, time constraints on the curator do not permit a major
overhaul of the format, so I shall continue using familiar formats
as in previous issues.
However, I am pleased to make the following new announcements:
1. Free subscriptions
2. color production
3. pdf downloads via the Museum website:
www.ittf.com/museum
For those who have no internet access or prefer hardcopy, a
black & white version can be mailed. The vast majority of the collecting community has internet access and e-mail, so they can
enjoy each issue in living color!
I am producing the issues using Quark XPress, a sophisticated
and powerful publishing tool. However, I am not yet fully conversant with the software, so I must ask for your patience as I learn
from each issue. Improvement suggestions are always welcome.
I want to stress the continuing need for articles from the membership for publication in our journal. With active participation the
journal can become more educational and diverse, reflecting the
interests of our global membership, and possibly expand beyond
the current 16 pages.
Copyright Notice
Despite numerous published announcements and direct contact
about the ITTF Museum copyright policy, the bad apples continue
to spoil it for all - previous permissions are now cancelled. If you
want to use ITTF Museum images, you must now apply for permission in writing & agree to the ITTF Museum copyright policy.
Use of such images requires the following caption credit, clearly
readable and immediately adjacent to each image:
“Copyright ©ITTF Museum All Rights Reserved
www.ittf.com/museum”.
If such images are used on the internet, then the museum website address must be an operational clickable hot link that when
clicked transfers to the ITTF Museum website.
Chasing after internet thieves is a waste of valuable time that
could be better spent promoting Table Tennis history. Special
thanks to fellow members for continuing to report offenders.
Reminder: Submit your membership application forms to
the editor!
On the Cover: Photos of the ITTF Museum in beautiful Switzerland. Open by appointment.
Contact the Curator for a reservation.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 2
1898 Ping Pong Vesta?
This familiar silver matchsafe/vesta was offered on eBay by
one of our members, selling for 80 Pounds. What makes
this interesting is the Registration number: Rd 323285 on
the side of the vesta, which dates it to 1898. Or does it?
Evidence of Ping Pong or Table Tennis prior to 1900 is very
scant, with only the Foster 1890 set, the Jaques 1891
Gossima set, and a few odd patents extant. Since both of
those games failed, largely due to the inappropriate cork or
rubber ball, it seems highly unlikely that this vesta would
have been made prior to the Ping Pong craze that began in
1900-01. It is plausible to conclude that the registration
number was for the case itself and not the engraved design;
however, the case is rather plain.
A similar instance occurred on a Stag Table Tennis boxed
set, which had an 1898 registration number on the box. But
the rules printed on the boxlid underside mentioned the Ping
Pong Association, which was formed in December of 1901.
Therefore 1898 was the date of the Stag logo, not the year
the set was made.
Canadian Mystery
Last year I acquired an interesting and handsome early Table Tennis
bat with a sterling silver base, on the bottom of which was a colorful
heraldry shield. The shield has many tiny compartments, with a crown
on top. The silver base is marked BIRKS, a prestigious jewelry &
finery shop in Canada.
Naturally I was very curious about the Canadian heraldry, and began to
make inquiries. Heraldry is rather an exact and detailed science, and
usually requires an expert to interpret. Eventually I found a heraldry
society in Canada, which identified the shields as representing the provinces of Canada, circa 1900.
Some months later I was fortunate to find a second, similar shield,
which was marked “Ping Pong Str. Pt. 2nd Prize 1902”. Given that the
shields represent all the Canadian provinces, it is reasonable to
conclude that these were prizes in a national level tournament. This is
the first hard evidence of a national organized event in Canada during
the early Ping Pong craze. If we can decypher “Str.Pt.” then research
in the 1902 newspapers for that location might solve the mystery.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 3
1936 Transatlantic Ping Pong Flight
The so-called Ping Pong flight of 2 September 1936, sponsored by
singer/composer Harry Richman (for the then princely sum of $360,000), was
piloted by Captain Dick Merrill, one of the most famous pilots in the history of
early aviation. This was the first non-stop flight from New York to London.
Why was it called the Ping Pong flight? Because every spare empty space on
the plane was filled with Ping Pong balls to enhance flotation in case the
plane had to ditch into the ocean! Such a use of Ping Pong balls for flotation
actually has precedent: a sunken ship was raised to the surface by filling its
empty space with Ping Pong balls! Recently on the program Myth Busters
they successfully recreated the sunken ship experiment.
After landing in South Wales due to inclement weather, Captain Merrill made
a series of celbratory stops before the return flight to New York. The plane
was a Vultee-1A known as the Vultee Lady Peace, and Harry Richman went
along as a passenger. Captain Merrill was also famous for flying an open
cockpit mail plane and had a 30-year association with Eastern Airlines.
A movie was made to commemorate this historic flight: “Atlantic Flight” by
Monagram Pictures, Captain Merrill himself. The ITTF Museum is fortunate to
have acquired two pieces of memorabilia from the Ping Pong flight.. Some
years ago I found the original sheet music of the movie themesong, “Me,
Myself and I Are All in Love with You” published by Words and Music of New
York in 1937 The sheet music cover, designed by M.Merman, depicted the
actual plane, along with Captain Merril and a rather ominous ocean. The
song was composed by Irving Gordon, Allan Roberts and Alvin S. Kaufman.
A borderline piece of Ping Pong trivia I supposed, but then I acquired one of
the actual balls used on that historic flight, signed by the sponsor and pilot!
The ball is well weathered, inscribed “to Fred Sincerely Harry Richman. His
imprinted autograph also appears on the ball, so these were specially prepared for the flight. Now I have the makings of an exhibit!
1937 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Medal Found
This large and handsome bronze medal found in a
German fleamarket was likely won by Hilde
Bussman in the 1937 World Championship
Women’s Singles at Baden bei Wien, Austria. The
other losing semi-finalist was Maria Kettnerova
(CZE), Hall of Famer and winner of the Paris
1933/34 and Wembley 1935 World Singles titles.
The medal is significant because the two finalists,
Ruth Aarons (USA) and Trude Pritzi (AUT) were
both disqualified for violating the new match time
limit rule. In 2001 the ITTF posthumously declared
them co-champions.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 4
Ping Pong Craze-y!
This incredible vintage graduation photograph dates to c.1902, during the height of the Ping
Pong craze. She was likely the school champion, as her cap and gown are decorated from
head to toe with Ping Pong balls, rackets and nets. Notice on the top of her cap there is a
miniature Ping Pong scene. She was certainly craze-y about Ping Pong! Such early photographic evidence is quite rare - a great addition to the ITTF Photo Archive.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 5
ebay
update
Royal Bayreuth Porcelain
This beautiful tumbler was acquired on ebay for $140. Table Tennis Collector No. 22 featured an article about these Ping Pong porcelains, which were made in 3 different patterns: bats and balls on table, as shown, hand holding bat, and pair of crossed bats.
Each has an American flag motif as well, either overhead or in ribbons.
Personally I regards these gems as the Faberge eggs of Table Tennis collecting. They
are immensely rare, of superb quality and difficult to find. My research has traced the
porcelains to the 1904 World’s Fair (St. Louis, USA), where the Royal Bayreuth company
had an exhibit.
The following pieces have been identified: Teacups, demitasse, sugar bowls, creamers,
pitchers, tumblers, wall pocket, cereal bowls, toothpick holders and ashtrays. I suspect
that there may have been a teapot and perhaps a plate or platter made for this set.
Please contact the Editor immediately should you find such pieces!
Early World Championships
The elusive original program from the 1933-34 Championships in Paris was recently acquired by the ITTF Museum for a very costly sum of 250 Euros. Why pay that astounding sum
you ask? The Table Tennis world needs a central facility to preserve all important records
of the history of the sport. Towards that end it is your Editor’s personal goal to restore the
ITTF Archives.
This program has helped to reduce the missing list for the ITTF Archives to 4 World
Championships: 1928 Stockholm, 1929 Budapest, 1930 Berlin and 1936 Prague.
Contact the Museum curator at: [email protected] if you can help. The ITTF Museum can
offer an original 1926 World Championship program in trade!
Other items missing from the ITTF Archives include the Wilmott ball testing materials from
the 1930s+, and the Film Archive, sadly missing all pre-1960 films that were once a part of
the Archives. Quite possibly such materials were stored in the estates of former officers,
only to be scattered to the winds of time.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 6
The ebay Postcard Phenomenon
Have you noticed the astonishing prices realized for early Ping Pong postcards of late?
Indeed it seems that some new collectors are bidding like drunken sailors on payday!
Relatively common, though quite attractive & colorful Tuck Write Away cards with art by
Lance Thackeray, have sometimes fetched over 50 Pounds each!? In the past one
could buy the entire set of 6 for not much over that price!
Experienced bidders know that it is sometimes best to have patience and wait for the
next ones, as they show up frequently on eBay. The ITTF Museum has endured many
a battle on eBay for really scarce cards, sometimes costing hundreds of dollars. But
worthwhile to rescue such historic memorabilia so they can be shared with the public.
This rare Red Star Lines original card recently sold for only US$36; in the past it has
fetched over $100. With patience & perseverance you can save money!
This fabulous folding Christmas card sold for a strong $225. It is an extremely rare folding pop-up die cut card showing blacks playing Ping
Pong with a minstrel strumming a banjo. The verse: With a gay ding! dong! like merry Ping-Pong, May the balls of Christmas chime! And
Fortune’s ball, on a table fall, Where Beauty, and Love, are prime! S.K.Cowan M.A. published by Raphael Tuck. The card reflects the typical
racial stereotypes of the day, showing exaggerated lips. One of the worst examples of this is found on a pair of color lithographs by the
famous American lithographers, Currier & Ives, showing blacks in unflattering caricature ineptly trying to play Lawn Tennis. When those lithos
were included in an exhibit at a major tennis tournament in the USA, there was such loud public outrage that the sponsor had them removed!
PING PONG CUSHION
This beautifully preserved cushion with early
Ping Pong scene sold for $255 on ebay. The
cushion is a very fine piece of evidence showing the extent to which Ping Pong invaded
the home during the craze of 1901-03. A wonderful & unusual piece of early Ping Pong
memorabilia!
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 7
What is Art - What’s in a Name?
I am always astonished at the prices many modern artworks command these days.
This painting by noted American artist Milton Avery recently auctioned for a staggering
$90,000 in an ebay Live Auction. This is something I would probably pass by for $1 at
a yard sale - perhaps a reflection on my own lack of artistic sense! However, I fail to
find a single appealing aspect of this painting. Clearly it was the name of the artist and
not the quality of content that merited such a price.
Strung rackets for Table Tennis are
rare and usually expensive. This pair
sold on ebay to a fellow member for
125 Pounds. Despite their technical
ineffectiveness, many makers included them in their best sets. Ayres
made finely crafted strung rackets with
different handle lengths, often with the
name Table Tennis imprinted on the
racket throat. Other makers included
Jaques, Bussey, Gamage and Globe.
French strung rackets have also been
found, some with the name Ping Pong
on the throat.
Painting by Milton Avery (USA, 1885-1965)
“Ping Pong Players” (c.1944) oil on board
ebay: Caveat Emptor
Good News, Bad News
on the World’s Most Amazing
Online Marketplace
ebay is a wonderful marketplace for both sellers and collectors, and for the
most part their feedback system helps to maintain the integrity level. “Let the
buyer beware” is indeed a wise adage, as it is inevitable that you will run into
unscrupulous sellers, who continue to operate despite negative feedbacks.
The problem is that a 97% feedback score might seem impressive, but if you
look more closely, the higher their volume of sales implies that many negative
feedbacks have been given from disappointed buyers.
The ITTF Museum is a very active buyer, and the most common problem we
encounter is sellers who agree to send the item by registered mail, take the
extra money, and then send it the cheapest way, and not registered. I scan
their envelopes to show the “mistake” and politely suggest a refund, but they
just ignore and pocket their extra profit. Appalling.
The bats shown are very rare cane rackets with single vellum embedded in
the frame. These are well known, and can be found with either Spalding or
Wright & Ditson maker names. This pair is exceptionally rare, as they are
marked Parker Brothers, the first I have seen of this type by the famous USA
game makers, who purchased the American rights to the name Ping Pong
from Hamley Bros. in 1902.
Rare cane single vellum Ping Pong rackets by
Parker Bros. c.1902 $250 on eBay!?
No. 40
Someone mentioned to the seller that these were rare items, but with only 30
minutes remaining the bidding stood at only $32. What happened next is a
blatant and transparent fraud: the seller apparently contacted his best customer, who buys only old tokens on ebay, and asked him to put in a large bid to
protect the rackets, as he had no reserve on them and didn’t want them to go
cheap. This bidding manipulation cost me over $200. When I reported the
incident to ebay they ousted both the seller & his token customer. Hopefully
ebay/PayPal will reimburse me for the fraud.
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 8
Nicaragua 1949
Several items relating to the first Table Tennis stamps recently
surfaced on eBay. The red Specimen stamp with punched
hole sold for $15. This item is probably a fake, as the genuine
Specimen stamps have a Waterlow & Sons Ltd overprint, with
small punched hole, and on the proof colors, as shown.
The two registered souvenir sheets First Day Covers are very
rare, as reflected by the bidding, selling for a strong $500 for
the Correos sheetlet cover, and $350 for the aereo cover, the
pair sadly split between two collectors.
1933 World Championship Mark Discovered
Our distinguished colleague and long time Table Tennis philatelist Winfried Engelbrecht of Germany sends us news
of a recent surprising discovery: a cachet or private mark from the 1933 World Championships, held in Baden-beiWien, Austria. Previously we knew about a similar cachet in the format of a postmark from the 1937 World
Championships, also held in Baden. Recently one example surfaced on ebay, made to look like a postally sent
cover, but without any official postmark, only 4x of the World Ch. mark. The earliest known official Table Tennis
postmark was used in Japan in 1948.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Coillector
Page 9
W orld Championship Philately
Part 8
No. 40
by Hans-Peter Trautmann & Winfried Engelbrecht
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 10
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 11
Philatelic Update
Please send your contributions for the
philatelic pages to:
Jos Zinkstok
Jan Nusteleijn and Jos Zinkstok continue their regular update about Table Tennis
stamps, postmarks and other items of philatelic interest.
Neckarstraat 8
NL-9406 VN ASSEN
The Netherlands
e-mail: [email protected]
STAMPS and VIGNETTES
El Salvador: 14.09.2005
10th Student Sport Games of
Central America
Luxembourg: 06.12.2005 Sport
serie of four stamps with TT-pictogram in border
Antillen (Netherlands): 21.11.2005 Stamps for Child welfare. Serie of
four, also in gutterpairs (with TT-player on stamp and tab)
Pakistan: 2005 Year of sports &
physical education
Austria: 2005 collective
sheet with 20 different personalized stamps with TTplayer Liu Jia
Hongkong - China: Personalized stamps with TT-players Deng Ya Ping, Kong Ling Hui and Cai Zhang Hua
All stamps showed at 100% and sheetlet and sheets at 25 to 50%
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 12
Hungaria: 2005 Vignet, a continiuation of issue announced in TTC 39
China: 2005 World Table Tennis super competition
match 24-25th December in ChangSha. World team
against China team. Sheetlet folder with personalized
stamps, commemorative cover and postcards
Belgium: 2006 New personalized stamp
TT-club Torenpark-Groenhoven Amsterdam
CANCELLATIONS
China: 02.01.2006
Table-Tennis Games
in Taicang, province
Jiangsu
China: 12.11.2005 29th Olympics Games in Beijing 2008 mascot Ying Ying play ping pong. City: Hefei
Germany: 12.12.2005 Redmeter
WTTC for teams of nations held
from 24 April to 1 May in Bremen
All cancellations showed at about 100%
For their contribution to these pages we want to thank Tang Ganxian, Bob op de Beeck,
Winfried Engelbrecht, Anton Zwiebel and Gao Yi-Bin for their great support.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 13
Membership Directory
Gunther Angenendt
Sergio Durazzano
Langacker 10a 44869 Bochum, Germany
Phone/Fax: +49-2327-77117
[email protected]
Pre-war World Ch. programs; all TT items
German boxed sets & bats; TT pins
Chuck Hoey, Curator ITTF Museum
Via Girardini 8, 33100 Udine ITALY
0432-21105
[email protected]
stamps and historical books
Chemin de la Roche 11
CH-1020 RENENS, Switzerland
[email protected]
World Ch. programmes: 1928,29,30,36
1926 W.Ch programme available for exchange
Art bats, unusual bats, museum quality items
Michael L. Babuin, PhD
P.O.Box 3401, Cary N.C. 27519 USA
[email protected]
pre-1905 books (any language), copies of old
films, programmes
Keith Bowler
14 Ewell Street, Balmain, N.S.W.
2041 Australia
Phone: (02) 98104128
Old magazines, publications up to 1961
Fabrice Chantriaux
10 Rue des Chevrefeuilles
F-45130 Saint-Ay FRANCE
02.38.88.82.11 Fax: 02.38.46.94.29
f,[email protected]
Stamps, cancels, postcards, posters (major
events) old papers on TT
Ron Crayden
7 Grennell Road, Sutton, Surrey
SM1 3DW England
Tel: +44 (0) 208 644 5004
Photography, music, book collection
Author of “The Story of Table Tennis
First 100 Years”
Andre Demeure
Place de Mai, 10
B-1200 Brussels BELGIUM
02/770.55.29
[email protected]
Cancellations, red meter, stationaries, stams
(perf+imperf), color proofs, artist sheets, postcards, phonecards, coins
Jean Devys
Residence La petite vigne
20 rue Edgar Quinet A/16
F-59100 Roubaix FRANCE
Phone: 33.320828444
Fax:
33.320660849
Table Tennis Philately, Cycling
Winfried Engelbrecht
Virgiliastr. 21, D-45131 Essen Germany
+49 201 78 6795
[email protected]
Philately: Stamps, FDCs, Sheets Postmarks,
Phonecards, Books, tickets, stickers, W.C.
Programmes
Gao Yi-bin
2-202 Lakeside Apartment, Jiangning,
Nanjing. P.R.China 11100
8625-5212 3334
[email protected]
TT stamps, FDCs, postcards, phonecards, coins,
medals, pins, cancellations
David George
No.1 Kingshill Cottages, Coatbridge Rd.
Gartcosh GT69-8DS SCOTLAND UK
Phone: 44-01236 872350
Badges, keyrings, medals, olympics, pins
David Good
Kevin Lau
7544 N.Claremont Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645 USA
773-719-0860 Fax:773-338-1831
[email protected]
Philatelic items, pins, coins, souvenir items,
memorabilia, decorative items
Jorgen Lindh
Brages Grand 78 SE-43231
Varberg, SWEDEN
[email protected]
Erik Kenneth Muhr
2 Highgate Hill, Hawkhurst KENT
TN18 4LB ENGLAND UK
01580 752676
[email protected]
History of Table Tennis
Scott Gordon
Rudolf Muller
93 45th Street, Sacramento, CA
USA 95819
+1 916 457 8482
[email protected]
www.hardbat.com
historic films; classic-era hardbats, old books
Acquire: films
Bahnhofstr. 58 D-57250
Netphen GERMANY
Phone: 02738-1461
Stamps, cancels, letter, error, red meter marks
Gordan Gotal
Meduliceva 23 Zagreb 10000 Croatia
+3851 4848 687
[email protected]
Exch: TT pins, medals, postcards
Acquire: Official badges from WC & EC (guest,
organizer, player, press, etc.)
Gerald Gurney
Atzlenbacherf Str. 88
D-51381 Leverkusen GERMANY
+49 (0)2171 32108 Fax: +49(0)2171.731478
[email protected]
TT balls, phone cards
Alan Duke
Rex Haggett
2 Shapwick Close Swindon WILTS.
ENGLAND SN3 3RQ UK
01 793 531234
[email protected]
History, music&photographic record of TT items
27 Meadow Close, Stratford-upon-Avon
Warwickshire, CV37 9PJ, England
Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 1789 269352
[email protected]
rex.haggett
Interests: Philately
No. 40
Torenwacht 37 2353 DB Leiderdorp Netherlands
071 5417413
[email protected]
Stamps mint, special cancelled postmarks, red
meters, FDC
710 N.Waverly, Dearborn, MI 48128 USA
+1 313 278 5271
[email protected]
c.1900 sets, equipment, ephemera, memorabilia
Guildhall Orchard, Great Bromley
Colchester, ESSEX CO7 7TU England
Tel/Fax: +44-1206-230330
All racket games, Table Tennis, Tennis, Badminton.
All equipment, ephemera. Historian & author.
Worldwide exhibitions. Also swimming items.
Exch: boxed sets, postcards, books, rackets
Axel Dickhaus
Randy Koo
The Table Tennis Collector
Jan Nusteleyn
Weserstraat 21 9406 VP Cissen
The Netherlands
0592-356050
[email protected]
Stamps, mint perforatedm FDCs red meters,
cancels WC, EC, EC-Youth, Top-12
Robert Op de Beeck
J.F.Willemstraat 66
2530 Boechout BELGIUM
03/455.41.59
Jeong-Kye Park
P.O.Box 555 BUSAN 600-605
KOREA SOUTH
Phone: 016 242 2075
[email protected]
Stamps, cancellations, covers
Robin Radford
16 St Edmund Cr TAWA, Wellington
New Zealand
Phone: 64 04 232 5672
[email protected]
TT cartoons, comic strips, clip art
Page 14
Membership Directory
Jose Ransome
Hans-Peter Trautmann
Yao Zhenxu
”Conifers” Church Lane ORMESBY
Middleborough TS7 9AU ENGLAND
Phone: 01642 322223
[email protected]
Siegfriedstr. 17, D-64385 Reichelsheim
GERMANY
[email protected]
Stamps mint, perforated, imperforated, sheets,
colour proofs, minister/artist sheets, errors,
postmarks, red/blue meters
Chinese Table Tennis Association
C3 Longtan Road (Floor 6)
Beijing, PC 100061 P.R.China
Tel: 861067120920 Fax: 861067129838
[email protected]
TT stamps, FDC, postcards, coins, phonecards,
pins, postal material, tickets etc.
Lutz Schoenfeld
Karl-Kellner-Str. 27b
30853 Langenhagen GERMANY
[email protected]
www.tt-domain.de
Exch: philatelic items, postcards, pins
Luigi Simeoni
Via Ponte S.Pancrazio 2/a
37133 Verona ITALY
Phone: 0039 045 532033
[email protected]
TT Balls, catalogue available
Tang Gan Xian
Qing Hu 4-35-104, ChangShu
215500 P.R.China
Phone: 86-512-52722359
[email protected]
Philately: TT stamps, FDCs, postmarks, postcards, phonecards,tickets, pins
Michael Thomson
1 Kinnoull Terrace, PERTH
PH2 7DJ SCOTLAND UK
Phone: 01738 622052
Jaques and history of Table Tennis
Graham Trimming
32a Colne Avenue, West Drayton
Middlesex UB7 7AL England
+44 (0) 1895 440316
[email protected]
All TT items pre-1939, esp. c.1900s
Acquire: Gossima 1891; other early unusual
items; early WC items
Russ Walker
4316 Irving Ave N, MPLS MN
55412 USA
Phone: 612-522-7905
[email protected]
Early 1900s equipment & boxed sets
Jos Zinkstok
Neckarstraat 8 NL9406 VN ASSEN
The Netherlands
Tel: 0031 592 350486 Fax: 0031 592 355861
[email protected]
TT cancellations, stamps, vignettes, on real used
letters/covers/cards, FDC
Anton Zweibel
Kerkweg 30, 9439 PG Witteveen, Netherlands
Tel: +31 593 552788
[email protected]
Exch: Stamps, cancellations, postcards
Acquire: postcards
Name not on the list? Send your membership form!
Farewell Angelica
I was shocked to read the sad news from her
daughter: Angelica Rozeanu passed away in
Haifa, Israel on February 21, 2006 at age 84.
Only a few weeks earlier I had received an email from Angelica concerning a dvd with
some film excerpts of her playing World
Championship Table Tennis that I had promised her. They played the dvd continuously
during the mourning week, reminding all of
her enormous talent.
Indeed she was the most successful of all
women champions, winning an astounding 6
consecutive World Singles titles from 1950
to1955, as well as 6 World Doubles titles. In
all she amassed 30 World Championship
medals: 17 Gold, 5 Silver and 8 Bronze. Her
legend will live on in the ITTF Museum,
where I am designing a special tribute exhibit
in her honor.
Farewell, dear Angelica - you will be sorely
missed but always remembered as a
Champion of Champions.
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 15
Where has everything gone?
by Gerald Gurney
Where has everything gone? It seems to be getting more
and more difficult to find interesting items - or, indeed anything at all - relating to racket sports. I go to auctions, bootfairs and antiques fairs every week - but without any expectation, and usually find nothing. Perhaps the action is all on
ebay, on which I resolutely refuse to dabble and which,
from all accounts, is extremely time consuming and even a
serious obsession.
{Editor’s note: ebay has indeed become the main source
of table tennis collectibles, a marketplace that is highly
competitive; but the occasional treasure makes the effort
worthwhile, though at times it can be rather expensive.}
these (presumably without the striker) turned up in a Paris
auction and described it as a sewing box. And one - even
possibly the identical one - was sold at Christie’s, in June
1997, for 485 Pounds.
It is over a year ago that I discovered, on my annual visit to
the Portobello Market, this (surely rare) cigar or cigarette
box, an item of high quality and heavily built in aok and
brass. Inside, there are two compartments as well as a striker (of ebony paper) and a match holder, all lined, as befits
its purpose, with cedarwood. Externally, the box measures
about 12 inches by 6 by 4.
The rackets, 2 inches long, are firmly fixed to the top surface, as are the finely fashioned posts, and the net is made
up of closely woven brass wire. The decorative corner
piecs (what is the technical term for these?) provide the
final flourish, and the box sits on brass balls, one at each
corner. The shield (brass of course) shows that this item
was intended as a trophy for a tournament but there is no
engraving.
On an inside edge, there this an impressed number Rd
387308, neatly giving us the date of 1902/02, but the British
Library records at Kew are more specific, citing 18 February
1902 as the date of registration and adding “J.W.Ring, trading as W.Ofield & Co, Fabcy Cabinet Manufacturers, 69
Rushton St., North Road, London N.”
The year 1902 has a certain resonance, but perhaps you
have already noticed that I have not, so far, mentioned
Table Tennis. I did, at first, assume that this item belongs
to the early era of the game, but now I feel that it is a dual
function as a Table Tennis or Lawn Tennis trophy; this
makes commercial sense for the manufacturers, and one of
A variation on a theme from the ITTF Museum
Join the ITTF Museum Team!
Help make the ITTF Museum a world class facility worthy
of the great sport of Table Tennis. We are the first
Federation in the Olympics capital of Lausanne to form a
museum, so this project will set a model for all Olympic
sports.
The Museum needs sponsor support for our touch-screen
video exhibits, and for other enhancements to each of our
nine rooms.
Donations of unusual early bats, films & antiquities as well
as items of historical importance are needed.
Contact the Curator to help: [email protected]
Published by the ITTF Museum on behalf of the Table Tennis Collectors’ Society, April 2006
Contact: ITTF Museum, Chemin de la Roche 11, CH-1020 RENENS, SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41-21-340-7090 e-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ittf.com/museum
© ITTF Museum - No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent of
the publisher
No. 40
The Table Tennis Collector
Page 16