19th C. Hornbeam Hockey Stick - The Morse Stick

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Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 8, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-10-08 10:00:00 2020-10-08 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-5796
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• Lot Description
  North America, southeastern Canada or northeastern United States, ca. mid to late 19th century CE. A stunning hockey stick of a minimalist form that is perhaps one of the oldest surviving precursors to modern hockey sticks. Known as the Morse Stick, this game instrument likely came from a single branch or root of an extinct American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) tree or possibly Eastern Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), with the straight handle formed from a single, unaltered wooden pole and the blade hand-carved to exhibit its characteristic curved form. The fine fissures, dark patina, and smooth surfaces are clear indicators of its age and make this an unfathomably rare piece of hockey’s storied history! Size: 43" L x 8.5" W (109.2 cm x 21.6 cm); (blade): 10.25" L (26 cm)
  
  The modern game of hockey evolved in Canada from stick games played by the Mi’kmaq First Nations tribe in Nova Scotia during the 18th century. Around the mid-19th century, the Mi’kmaq people began harvesting sugar maple and hornbeam trees to make more sticks as the popularity of the game increased. The 1860s saw the first commercial manufacture of "Mic-Mac" sticks by the Starr Manufacturing Company of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia who spread the game across eastern Canada and the New England states. The original game of hockey, however, did not find its inception in Canada, but rather across the Atlantic Ocean in Great Britain. The original game – known as chamiare, shinty, or shinny in Scotland and hawkey or bandy in England in the late 1700s and early 1800s – was played by groups of skating players with lengthy sticks bearing curved blades similar to modern hockey sticks. Instead of a ball, they used an oblong cork bung used for plugging beer barrels before gradually introducing a more uniform, spherical ball in its place. Only after the invention of vulcanized rubber in 1839 by Charles Goodyear did vulcanized rubber pucks similar to those used today become an integral part of the game.
  
  While the game of hockey (also known as roller or ice polo in New England) had been recorded in the United States since around the late 1830s, it was not until 1875 that the first sanctioned game in Montreal, Canada occurred. The Montreal, Quebec publication The Gazette is quoted with describing the event: “The game of hockey though much in vogue on the ice in New England and other parts of the United States, is not much known here (in Canada). In consequence the game of last evening (Montreal Football Club versus Victoria Skating Rink) was looked forward to with greet interest.” (The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, March 5, 1875).
  
  For additional information on the origins of hockey, please see the article "The Birthplace or Origin of Hockey" at the Society for International Hockey Research.
  
  This hockey stick is accompanied by a notarized Radiocarbon Analysis Report by Douglas K. Dvoracek, The University of Georgia Center for Applied Isotope Studies, UGAMS #A20768; a notarized Microscopic Analysis Report by Susan E. Anagnost, Ph.D., ESF State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Department of Construction Management and Wood Products Engineering; a small write-up by J.W. (Bill) Fitsell, Historian, International Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum; email correspondence with Phil Pritchard, Vice President, Resource Centre & Curator – Hockey Hall of Fame; an insurance appraisal for $3,500,000 by Mr. G. Patrick Magee, President, IFA Investment Fine Art Ltd.; a signed and notarized affidavit by Gary and Germaine Morse explaining the acquisition history and brief description of The Morse Stick; and a notarized genealogy report of Germaine Morse.
  
  Provenance: private Morse collection, Roxbury, Vermont, USA, acquired around 1980 from owner's brother, Anthony Bean; ex-Anthony Bean collection, Northfield, Vermont, USA, acquired after purchasing his grandmother’s home in 1980
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #159389

  Condition

  Warping commensurate with age, several stable fissures, small nicks, and several circular impressions on both sides of blade, otherwise intact and choice. Lustrous, dark brown patina and very smooth surface textures throughout.
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