For sale is an excellent condition SPALDING OVAL TENNIS RACQUET made by the A. G. Spalding & Brothers Company, Chicopee, MA. This rare wooden tennis racquet has a laminated convex wedge design with a crisp trademark logo. This racquet has intact strings and is not warped. The leather end collar at the bottom handle is intact. The handle end cap includes the Spalding logo. The racquet handle is marked with a January 3, 1905 patent date. The racquet measures 26 1/2 inches long and 8 1/2 inches at its widest. In 1906, Spalding advertised this same model racquet for sale for $20. A first rate tennis collectible.
In 1874, Major Walter C. Wingfield made the very first tennis racket was made in London. In 1947, advances in laminating technology resulted in the first tennis racket made of laminated wood. In 1968, a steel tennis racquet was brought to market with aluminum racquets being introduced in the 1970s.
Just one year after the official adoption of tennis rules, a Frenchman, Pierre Babolat, created natural gut tennis strings, giving players a product in 1875 that is still in use 140 years later. Pierre made a name for himself crafting strings for musical instruments. Following the birth of tennis, it was only natural that he repurposed his craft for tennis. The first tennis strings, created in 1875, were formed from sheep intestine. While Babolat—now a tennis company—still creates natural gut string from its Lyon, France, facility, the tide has turned from sheep intestine to cows.
