Page 10 - JOA-Sept-2021

WHAT’S SELLING ON eBay
WHAT’S SELLING ON eBay

by Philip Hawkins and Mike McLeod

$976 (20 bids, 6 bidders): Antique Belleek Fish Stirrup Cup. Irish $2,805 (40 bids, 17 bidders):
Belleek porcelain stirrup cup in the form of a fish. It has the original Authentic Louisville Slugger®, Silver
owner’s name in gilt upon it: M. Rogan. The Belleek backstamp is to the Slugger Trophy Bat, Baseball Award.
interior of the cup. It is an unusual, attractive, highly collectible antique. Tonight, we are listing an original
There are some nibbles to the rim edge, commensurate with both age and Louisville Slugger, Silver Slugger Award
use. Stands four inches high. bat. It is engraved, “125, Louisville
It has been brought to my attention that this stirrup cup in the form of Slugger,” but was never engraved with a
a salmon’s head was made for Michael Rogan, born in 1833 and world player’s name. The picker who con-
renowned for one of the oldest fly-tying firms in the world. Amongst his signed this bat purchased it along with a
famous patterns were the Green Parson, the Ballyshannon and Rogan’s few other examples from a family mem-
Fancy. Rogan’s shop was a few miles from the town of Belleek, and he had ber who once worked with the makers
many special visitors, including Edward Prince of Wales, son of Queen of this rare silver-plated trophy bat,
Victoria. (photos courtesy of eBay seller stickyourstars.) Hillerich & Bradsby. We were told the
bat is a “second,” and there are some
light scratches on the very tip, but
everything else is in original, bright condition.
The Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards are the top Offensive
Honor in Major League Baseball. Coaches and managers of Major League
teams vote for the players they feel are the best offensive producers at each
position in the field, both the American and National Leagues. They base
their selections on a combination of offensive statistics, including batting
average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, as well as the coaches’
and managers’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value.
Managers and coaches are not allowed to vote for players on their own team.
The Silver Slugger Award was instituted by Hillerich & Bradsby
in 1980 as a natural extension of the Silver Bat Award – a silverplated bat
presented by Louisville Slugger to the batting champions in the American
League and National League. Past winners of the Louisville Silver Slugger
Award include such legends of the game as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Pete
Rose, Cal Ripken, Jr., Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg, Barry Bonds and
Sammy Sosa. (photos courtesy of wwolst12.)

PH: The Silver Bat Award, originally known as
the John A. “Bud” Hillerich Award, is presented
annually to the batting champions of the
American and National Leagues. The Hillerich
Award was first given in 1934 and became the
Silver Bat Award in 1949. The award is in the
form of a Louisville Slugger bat and is silver plat-
ed. It’s 34 inches long and is normally engraved
PH: A stirrup cup has a two-fold meaning: it is the name for both a drink with the player’s signature and statistics. The orig-
and an object. The drink is one offered guests as they depart, feet in the inal award was named for the founder of Louisville
stirrups; and also, it is the actual cup the drink is offered in. The drink is Slugger and was first given out to minor league
also traditionally offered to hunters at a meet before a fox hunt. The drink batting champions starting in 1934; it was
is usually port or sherry, but the cup can come in many materials and take expanded to the majors in 1949. The Minor
many forms. Stirrup cups can be of silver, pewter, horn, glass or ceramic, League awards were dropped in the late 1970s.
and the more prevalent examples have forms associated with a hunt Now adding to the confusion, Louisville
(stag, fox, hound, bird, horse, boar, rabbit, etc.), but they can also take Slugger instituted another award in 1980 known
less-common forms (fish, elephant, military helmet). as the Silver Slugger Award. This award is given to
Modest, typical examples can sell for $20 at auction while the most the best offensive player of each position as deter-
elaborate and unusual command high prices. A Scottish sterling ram’s mined by MLB coaches and managers, and this
head fetched $12,500 at auction in 2020 at Lyon & Turnbull, and an otter appears to be what we have an example of. I was
hound head example brought $9,000 at Freeman’s in April of this year. able to locate two, also without names engraved,
The most expensive ceramic example I found sold for $4,250 at Jeffrey that sold at auction: one by Lelands in 2015 for
Evans in 2019. The highest auction price for a single fish head cup that I $2,411, and several sold by Goldin Sports
could locate was $2,000 in 2012. I could not find another Belleek example Memorabilia Auctions ranging from $2,800 to
in any form, and it might be that this is a one-off, but unlikely. A Belleek $7,800. Additionally, I was also able to locate
mark #2 is present on the cup, and that was used from 1891 to 1926, one of the Silver Bat awards – the 1951 award
which dates its manufacture to that period. to Ferris Fain that sold in 2018 for $14,400, also
sold at Goldin.
8 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles