Buckles Blog: More Bard #2

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Elephant ball, displayed under the Lallah Rookh banner.

Chic Silber said...: Appears to be some textured

covering tacked onto whatever

the ball interior is made of

most likely wood segments to

make it solid cored

This ball would be much heavier

than the segmented aluminum one

Buckles has mentioned before; 02 March, 2014 21:38
Dick Flint said...: No, no! This wooden ball with a painted cloth cover was used by equestrian Jacob Showles who would lay on his back on the back of a horse and juggle this ball with his feet. As the horse cantered around the ring passing under banners stretched across the ring, Showles would toss the ball into the air above the banners under which he and the horse would pass, and catch it with his feet. This remarkable survival from the 1860s is in the collection of the Circus World Museum in Baraboo.
Dick Flint
Baltimore; 02 March, 2014 22:46
Dick Flint said...: I should be clear: no, no, Paul, its not an ELEPHANT ball even though it was poorly placed next to a poster for an elephant. And Chic, it is graduated wood with, as I have noted, a painted cloth cover.
Dick Flint
Baltimore; 02 March, 2014 22:52
Paul Gutheil said...: I bow to the respected historian with thanks.

And, it sure as hell was poorly placed. I did wonder about it with all those strips an tacks.

Trust you're doing well Dick.

My best, Paul; 02 March, 2014 23:53

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