Leather Catcher's Half Mask c.1940

ABOUT This is an original vintage catcher's half mask. The main body is steel with brown leather padding and fabric head strap. The piece has retained most of it's original finish and is in good condition with appropriate patina for its age. CREATOR unknown. DATE OF MANUFACTURE c.1940. MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES Steel, Leather. CONDITION Good. Wear consistent with age and use. DIMENSIONS H 4.5 in. W 8 in. D 3 in. HISTORY Masks were more obviously a protective device. Probably the first one was invented by an Ivy League man, Fred Thayer, who in 1876 adapted a fencing mask for Alexander Tyng, then with the Harvard Nine. At first, Thayer’s better mouse trap was derisively called a rat trap. But the catcher’s mask caught on quickly among pros and amateurs alike and was in wide use by the 1880s. Thayer’s patented mask (patent 200,358) went into the Spalding catalog for the 1878 season, and adaptations followed quickly. Its simple forehead and chin rests were embellished with padding—m