COLLECTING SPORTING KNICKKNACKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2241, 11 February 1897, Page 49

COLLECTING SPORTING KNICKKNACKS.

A Hobby Which is Becoming Popular. When a man has made bimielf famous in some profession or trade his autograph letters are eagerly sought for by enthusiastic collectors. The successful athlete also comes in for his share of attention, though specimens of his caligrapby are not so mnch in demand as the knick-knacks which in one way or another tell of his feats in the world of sport. Collecting these trifles seems to form a very fascinating hobby, judging by tli - time which many mßnof inaans ars devo'i , to it. A Yorkshire gentlemen claims to have th' best oollpction of. snorting kmck -knacks cr. rant. He keapa h\s treasures in a hiij,-well-furnished room, which looks for all it world like a museum. Ringed on plu* coverod tables ara hundreds of glass ca-^ . each of which contains something intereatit Jr / to the lover of sport. In one corner of thu room an innocent-looking piece of tape hangs from a thin bar of steel, and the visitor wonders whatever it can mean until he reads the neatly-written ticket underneath. He then learns that the tape vr&3 broken by Charley Bradley what; he won a 100 yds race at a big Yorkshire carnival a few yoars ago. Farther on thflre is a broken apirit glnse, whiph the owner says was knocked off a pavilion refreshment bar by a mighty hit. of A. 'Jbl. Studdarfc'e. Another cticketicg curiofiity is a shoe worn by one of trtc Imiy fliicketofi 1 who made such a p°rmat.ion some time back. The shoe toe has been badly pierced by a spike, and a dark crimson stain shows how the blood must have flown from the foot of the fair player. .Football is well represented 5n this or! •' collection. There ia a fca'l with wbioh !. burn Rovers once won the E&glfrh (" piece of a goal post which was knoi:<t". by the head of a well-knowa gc&lkui during a terrific "bully"; a set o£ "ii Memorism " cards exulting in the defe at of various celebrated clubs ; and, most comical of all, a row of teeth which certain famous footballers have had the misfortune to lose in the thick of the fight. An authority on swimming indulges his love for the pastime by inakiDg a very peculiar collection. He attends all the principal fetes throughout the kingdom, and secures a bottleful of the water in which anything worthy of record is done. His private room resembles a chemist's laboratory, for there are five shelves almost filled with what he calls his " aquatic bottles." He labels them all carefully with inscriptions, of which the following is a fair specimen :—: — ■. Sample of Southporfc water, in which J. H. Tyers (Manchester Osborne) won the 1000 yds rhammouthip and broke all records on August 18, 1&91. T-me, 15miu 2aec. He has followed this extraordinary hobby for over -20 years, and one of his bottles is filled with water t^.ken from the Thames in 1883, when W. R. Itter broke the five-miles amateur record. A fair number of collectors haunt the cycling track in search of curiosities. It ifi not so easy to pick up knick-knacks in this branch of sport, nor are they aB interesting as either cricket or football curios. One ot the most ardent collectors at present ridirr,' this hobby, straDge to say, is a lady cyclis;-. Bbc has several machines of the old style ia her store-room, and all of them have beeu ridden by cracks who have had their day, though they are not entirely forgotten. Beßides her liking for old "bikes," thli energetic young lady generally contrives tc gee hold of a piece oT any machine which ia smashed up during a big race through an accident to its rider. She is also keen on the printed numbers which oyclists wear on their backs or arras so that the spectators may know who they are, and she shows great cunning in getting hold of these and othei knick-knacks. Altogether, this new bobby would seem to have quite "caught on," and there is no knowing how far it may extend in the future.