Estimate: $5,000 - $8,000
American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts
Auction: April 27, 2021 11:00:00 AM EDT
Many marked with glove design numbers.
11 in. x 11 in. (largest)Provenance
Collection of Jeffrey Kenneth Kohn, MD
Note
The M. Denkert Company was founded by Mitchell Denkert (Russian/American, 1866-1950) at 213 West State Street in Johnstown, a center of leather manufacturing, in 1909. Denkert manufactured a variety of leather sporting goods but specialized in baseball gloves. After WWI, he was joined by his sons, James and Henry, who secured patents for a number of baseball glove design innovations.
The company flourished during the 1920s to the 1960s, employing up to 125 people, and sold gloves under their own name as well as under many private label brands including R.H. Macy, Pro Maker, Firestone Olympian, Montgomery Wards, Johnny Walker, JC Higgins, Arrow Brand, Ramsey Outdoor, The Drier Co., Geo. Worthington Co., True Play, Yale, Marathon, Monarch Stebbins for Sports and others. Denkert gloves were endorsed by some of Major League baseball's most famous players including Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Richardson, Bobby Brown, Charlie Keller, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, and Moose Skowron. The company closed in 1973.