The African carvings of the different animals were created with different kinds of woods. I don’t remember what country in Africa that the giraffe and rhino were made but the lion is from Swaziland. When I see things like this I know that they were hand carved. My curiosity more is with the very old croque balls. We take for granted with products and sometimes don’t think about how they were made. I know that a machine was used to get that round ball from wood but I have never seen it done nor the machine that does it. Those croquet balls are from the late 40’s or early 50’s. The surface was left as a natural wood and the stripe was hand pained.
I did research the croquet balls for sale on etsy and Ebay. I found only one set of them that were really beat up. Others were badly restored but the wood seemed to be a different kind of wood. I have not been able to find the mallets that match this set of balls. Most people don’t have large numbers of them for sale. This set actually came from my wife’s Aunt estate so they mean more than being just a set of wooden spheres.
2 comments:
The animals are wonderful. But the balls! How on earth can they be made this round and smooth by either man or machine? They are wonderful.
We played croquet when we were young. I remember daddy gifting the old set to one of Karen's children, but I'm sure it is gone now. One time we forgot to pull up the "wickets" we had placed in the ground and our elderly aunt got tangled up in it. It did not hurt her badly and I remember neighbor, Lillie Mae, saying later she wondered what in the world was going on over at our house!!!
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