1890-1920 Antique Style Laced Leather Basketball from Past Time Sports

First type laced leather basketballs used between 1890s and 1920s & 30s era. These are great replica balls as old balls that bounce are extinct. Hand made, hand stitched and hand sewn of specially aged and tanned fine leather. Bounce it, dribble it, shoot it !! Just like the early players did. Great for special gifts, awards, commemoratives, or decor, for your game room, den or office. HISTORY HISTORY In 1891 Dr. Naismith invented the game of basketball. It was to bring team sport indoors. The first ball was crude and handmade and hand-stitched leather with an irregular shape and bladder. It was made to be passed. It was soft and oversize up to 33 inches in circumference. Its laces and handmade irregular seams made the ball much trickier to dribble and shoot. Full size, vintage balls like these are practically extinct. Rare examples command museum prices. After each quarter, if there was not a second ball to be used, balls had to be de-laced and re-pumped up. Access to the bladder came from removing the laces. Although the dribble was not officially sanctioned until the early 1903-1906 years. A dribble was considered a pass to oneself. There were no backboards. The ball was shot into the peach basket and then someone had to climb up and retrieve it for the next play. Teams often were 7 in number. While Naismith's original game hardly resembles basketball as it is played today, the essence was there, and some similarities remain. The five second time limit for throwing the ball inbounds is still used today. And he had decided that the best way to put the ball in play was to toss it in the air between two players a maneuver that would eventually become the center jump. Naismith wanted to control the roughness of the early game by having the referee call fouls. Yet, there was no mention of dribbling the basketball. And in the early days of the game women began playing almost as much as men. It also didn't take the game long to spread from YMCA Gyms, where it was born, to colleges. There is a record of basketball appearing in both men's and women's colleges as early as 1892. The game took hold fast. During the next few years the rules began to change. In the original rules a field goal counted as only one point. Later field goals were raised to three points before dropping back to two points. A point was awarded when the opposing team committed three fouls, but before long that was dropped and free throws were awarded. By 1897 the free throw line was e