Antique Baseball Bat - Pontiac Turning Company Baseball Bat 1900-1905

This vintage baseball bat was made by the The Pontiac Turning Company from Pontiac, Michigan. The very attractive Indian Chief logo makes for a great looking bat, always in demand. This heavy antique war club features a deeply burned in logo and beautiful wood grain. Due to the fine detail in the logo, it is almost always imperfect. However, the logo on this bat is almost entirely perfect and has a wonderful appearance. Of additional interest with this bat is the history which the owner shared with me in a letter that goes as follows:

You may wonder how I came into possession of that bat. I can tell you how I acquired it but I cannot tell you for sure how it was obtained in the first place. My Grandfather came to this country from England about 1892. I have a picture of him in a baseball uniform while he was still in England. Around 1902 he lived in Ypsilanti (Michigan). He may have purchased the bat then and at some time took and left it at the cottage. But he is deceased as are his wife, daughter, son, and anyone else who might know how the bat was originally obtained. My grandparents owned a cottage on Wallon Lake (Michigan) and when the depression came along they had to sell it and were able to buy some lake front property on Lake Charlevoix in Boyne City (Michigan) in 1933. When they died they gave the property to my mother. When she died, she deeded the property to her children of which I am one of them. This bat found its way to this cottage and I eventually brought it home. While I was growing up I'd spent summers at the cottage. I would encounter the bat, but never bothered to ask about it. I am in my late 80's now. I might add that I never played baseball, my parents had no interest in the game, and when he was alive, my Grandfather never mentioned the game or the bat. Of course I was very young when he died. All I know for sure was when I went to the cottage, here was this bat stashed in a corner waiting for some one to use it. And no one ever did. I brought it home thinking my grandchildren might use it, but they didn't. The other day I was looking at the bat and noticed the trade marks on it, so decided to look on the interned to learn more about it. The rest is history… Fred S. An outstanding vintage bat in all regards, condition is EX-MT.